Sands Of Time
by kellyhorse
Summary: Cassie was a straight A student. Then she died in a car crash. Luckily, she woke up. Unluckily, everything about the world was woke up in was wrong. For starters, it wasn't hers. Girl thrown into PJO / Reincarnation. Not self-insert. Trying to stick to canon.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note at the end (You're welcome), super short disclaimer here: This is a work of fan fiction using the world and some of the characters created by Rick Riordan. He owns them, I don't.

* * *

Cassie didn't remember dying.

Or at least, she think she died. It would make sense; die in one universe and magically get transported to a fictional one.

Yeah. Totally makes sense, right?

But anyways. She didn't remember dying. She did sort of remember being in a car crash though.

And she sort of remembered waking up in a hospital. She noticed she was alone, but she must have passed out again pretty quickly because she didn't remember anything else.

The second time Cassie woke up though, a nurse was in her room, checking monitors or something.

It took the nurse a minute to notice the girl was awake, which was good, because Cassie was a bit out of it, and it was taking her a minute to start forming coherent thoughts. "Hey," The woman said when she saw Cassie looking around, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Cassie answered automatically. You can know it was 'automatically' because no, she was not fine. She was completely confused and she wasn't at all focused on the nurse's question. She was focused on her own. _Why am I in a hospital? ... What happened?_ She tried to recall her most recent memories to figure out how she got there, _I… I was at school yesterday and- no, I had gotten home after school. Then? Then I-_ "Ahh!" A horrible shooting ripped through Cassie's skull and her hands flew to her forehead like that could somehow ease the pain.

"There now," The nurse rushed forward, dumping her clipboard on the foot of Cassie's stark white hospital bed before taking a gentle hold of her wrists.

Her head! She had never felt a pain that bad before.

"Careful, don't want to mess with that bandage now," The nurse said calmly.

 _Bandage? …Oh... Bandage._ Now that the nurse mentioned it, Cassie did feel a thick pad over her left temple. _Why is that there?_ She felt around at it, but of course, the bandage didn't have any answers for her. The slight sting underneath actually just made her more confused. Why, exactly, did she have a nice-sized gauze pad on her head?

"Do you want some more pain medicine?" The nurse asked after a moment, "I can get you something stronger if you need it,"

 _Pain meds?_ Cassie's headache had gone as quickly as it had come and the wound on her temple didn't physically hurt all that much, despite whatever must be under the bandage. _Do I need pain meds?_ She supposed she felt tired, and a little weak, but otherwise Cassie thought she was fine. But yeah right. If she was fine, why was she there? What happened? And why was she alone?

"Cassie?" The nurse prodded.

Where was her mom? Why wasn't her mom there with her?

"Cassie," She asked more forcefully,

 _What? Oh_ , "Yeah," she shook her head to try and focus back in the present, "Yeah, err, yes please. Thanks"

"Okay, just stay in bed, I'll let the doctor know you're up and be right back with some meds, okay?"

"Okay" _That was a stupid_ , Cassie told herself, _I don't need medicine_. _I need my mom. Where's-_ The nurse walked out as Cassie thought to articulate her question. Cassie slumped back onto her pillow and sighed. She supposed one more minute of unanswered questions wouldn't matter though, she could wait until the nurse came back. But then again…

Cassie realized that the nurse had left her clipboard on the edge of the bed. She awkwardly shimmied herself to grab it, careful not to snag the IV that was hooked up to the back of her hand on anything.

When she sat back she brought her chart up to read an- "Woah," She muttered. That stereotype about doctors having horrible handwriting? Cassie raised her eyebrows is surprise at just how indecipherable it really was.

It took her a few moments of trying to decode the script when she realized that it wasn't the doctor's loopy cursive that was unreadable. _What the...?_ Cassie frowned when she realized that she couldn't read _anything_ on the page. Not the doctor's handwriting, not the computer's plain font, none of it. It was all illegible to her.

Cassie began to worry. Did her head injury cause this? She was just starting to freak out when her room's door opened.

It wasn't the nurse returning that Cassie saw come in the door though. Instead, in rushed a middle-aged woman with straight dark hair wearing a headband and a colorful messenger bag. She looked frazzled. Concerned. But when her gaze locked onto Cassie, everything about her relaxed.

Cassie was instantly relieved as well.

It was her mom: Jennifer Barton.

"Ohh, Cassie!" The woman cried, hurrying to her daughter's bed to embrace her in a long hug. Cassie gratefully returned the gesture, smiling now that her situation wasn't quite so scary. It would be okay now: her mom was there. Her mom could handle it. Her mom would take care of her. "Are you doing okay? Are you hurting anywhere?"

Cassie sat back and took a deep breath. "I'm fine, actually." And although _this_ time she really meant the answer, she knew her mom wouldn't believe her. Not while Cassie was in the hospital. Not with the bandage around her head and IV in her hand. But still, it was the truth.

"What…." Cassie started to ask, then cleared her throat, "What happened?" Cassie thought that her lack of memory would frighten her mom, but instead the older woman just reached out to take her daughter's hand reassuringly and gave a small sympathetic smile.

"You don't remember?"

Cassie shook her head. "I tried to read the doctor's chart," Cassie tentatively started to tell her mom, worry starting to form in the pit of her stomach again. She was in the hospital, probably from a head injury, and now she couldn't read.

Not good.

Before she could say anything else though, her mom sat back and gave a slight grimace, "Dyslexia acting up again?"

 _What?_ Cassie frowned. She wasn't dyslexic. What was her mom...?

"We were driving to your school. Someone ran a red light and T-Boned our car. You were knocked unconscious."

Car crash. Ahh. That explained a lot. She must have gotten a concussion or something. Cassie was pretty sure people who got concussions had a hard time remembering their accident. That would make sense. But it didn't explain why she couldn't read... Unless, she supposed, she got hit really, really hard.

But her mom had mentioned dyslexia. Cassie didn't have dyslexia. Why would her mom say something like that?

And why was her mom driving her to school? Cassie's confusion grew even more. Her mom NEVER drove her to school. Even when it was snowing out Ms. Barton would make her daughter ride the bus.

Cassie's head began to throb. Why wasn't this making any sense!? She squeezed her eyes shut in frustration and rubbed her hands over her face.

"Are you hurting?" Her mom asked.

Cassie didn't uncover her face to respond, but quietly said through her hands, "The nurse is bringing some meds".

And not a minute later, the nurse did.

She brought Cassie a glass of water to go with the pills, both of which the girl took gratefully, and simultaneously reassured Ms. Barton that despite being unconscious for the last day, Cassie's vitals were in fact, very good. The nurse then asked Cassie a few simple questions;

"Name?"

"Cassie"

"Age?"

"13"

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"Uhh," Cassie paused, not all that comfortable with admitting she was having memory problems. "I was in a car crash?" She didn't mean for it to come out so much like a question.

The nurse made a quick scribble on the clipboard she had taken back, "That's perfectly normal if you can't remember." She reassured, seeming to know exactly what Cassie was thinking. "You got a pretty nice concussion there. You may be able to remember what happened in the next few days, but it's perfectly normal if you can't. Luckily that's your only injury though, besides some bruising... If you're feeling up for it, Dr. Miller will probably let you go home soon; maybe tonight or in the morning." Cassie nodded. That sounded good- she wanted to go home. Right now, actually. "But the more rest you get," Continued the nurse, "The better you'll feel, so try and get some sleep. Or, if you're hungry the cafeteria instructions are right here," The woman handed Cassie's mom a laminated colorful paper, "But you can call me if you need anything," This time she pointed to some sort remote control looking thing next to Cassie's bed, "otherwise I'll be back in a few hours for some more vitals."

Cassie gave a polite "Thank you" as the nurse left, but her energy was quickly draining and so when her mom asked if she wanted any food, Cassie quickly declined and told her mother that she really just wanted to sleep. Her mom nodded and left her alone, and Cassie was able to slip back into unconsciousness almost instantaneously.

When she awoke a few hours later, she felt infinitely better. Cassie and her mom had gotten some cafeteria food and afterwards the two happily started watching an old Disney movie on the room's TV. They were halfway through it when Dr. Miller finally came in.

He asked Cassie how she was feeling of course, and did all those normal doctor things; flashing a light in her eyes, checking her temperature and the blood pressure monitor she was still hooked up to, and he even made her walk in a line heel-to-toe like cops do with drunks. He replaced the wrap on her temple with two small butterfly bandages and nodded when he finished, seemingly satisfied with how everything turned out. Although Cassie had gotten a bad concussion, he said, she seemed well enough to be discharged.

"Perfect," Ms. Barton had announced and turned to her daughter, "We can still make it to Yancy tonight if you're up for it."

Yancy? Cassie must have misheard her mom. Go to Yancy's house tonight? "Who?" She asked,

"Yancy." Her mom repeated, "Your new school? We made it over halfway there; there's only about two more hours to go. We'll already be arriving a day late and it would be a waste to drive all the way back home first. If you're feeling okay, that is."

Cassie furrowed her brow and looked down into her lap, thinking hard. _What?_ Um, no. Cassie went to PS 31. It was just a couple blocks from her house in Brooklyn. Walking distance. Not two hours away. She had never heard of…. Yancy.

But Cassie didn't tell her mother this. Cassie had just had a major head injury. She didn't want to scare her mom and make herself look crazy.

 _Oh my gosh_ , Cassie froze. What if she was crazy?

No, no. She shook her head. She _couldn't_ be crazy! She was just dazed. Confused. Overwhelmed. Concussed! It would all be fine. Her memory would come back with rest, just like the nurse said it might, and it would all be fine.

And she was fine, Cassie told herself while trying to ignore the fact that she had never heard of this new school.

She took a deep breath. _Just. Fine._ She repeated.

And physically, she really was feeling pretty decent. If 'Yancy' was only a two hour car ride away, she could do it.

"Um, sure, I guess". Cassie tried to hide the uncertainty in her voice but neither of the adults in the room missed it. They just missed the _reason_ for it.

"It'll be okay, squirt," Dr. Miller gave her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. She grimaced, since that particular joint was very sore. And also because that was an awful nickname. "It's a whole new semester, it'll be fun. And a boarding school! How exciting! And I bet it'll be fun to be away from your mom," He smiled and winked at them both.

Cassie's mom smiled back at the doctor.

Cassie just looked at him like he was crazy. _Boarding school!?_ She couldn't speak. Though, Cassie supposed 'boarding school' would explain why it was so far away. But of course, it was about the _only_ thing it explained.

The doctor shifted awkwardly when she didn't respond to his little jest. "Right!" He finally said, "Well, I'll be back soon with your discharge papers then."

Once he had gone Cassie's mom started their movie again, somehow oblivious to her daughter's bafflement. Cassie was in turn just as oblivious to the movie and continued to stare at her blanket intently. She knew it wasn't a prank. Her mom would never do something like that- Ms. Barton was the nicest, most honest person Cassie knew. No, Cassie didn't think for a second that this was some big prank her mom was playing.

 _So_ , she tried to sort it all out, _I go to boarding school. Called Yancy. Not a normal day school called PS 31. I was in a car crash. I got a bad concussion and my memories will come back._ Cassie breathed and nodded to herself. Okay. She was figuring this out. She could do it. And Yancy _did_ sound familiar to her- Her memories must be there somewhere and would come back after some more rest. And if her memories _were_ there, there was no reason to tell her mom and freak her out. Or her doctor.

Not yet, at least.

* * *

Cassie didn't try to strike up any real conversation with her mom once they started driving.

No, Cassie just sat anxiously in the front seat, thinking hard as she watched the cars fly past on the interstate. Every once in a while she would change the radio station, or ask if she could adjust the temperature, but Cassie was otherwise silent. In turn, Cassie's mom didn't make much small talk either. It was pretty out of character for her mom, but Cassie was grateful for some quiet.

She assumed they were getting close when they finally exited the interstate and her mom started giving her instructions.

"Just call if you need anything. Anything at all! If you forgot something I can always mail it to you, and you have some money for emergencies, right?" Cassie checked her bag when her mom said this. _Oh yes_. Cassie smirked at seeing all of the bills. She had money- much more than she would ever need at school. She supposed she wasn't all that surprised though, she knew her mom was rich. "I'm sure the other kids will be nice; they're all in the same boat as you and know what you're dealing with. That's what Yancy specializes in so don't be afraid to ask the teachers for help!"

 _Wait, what?_ Cassie glanced at her mom questioningly.

Ms. Barton caught her look and explained, "Learning… Disabilities. And…. Behavior issues." She said slowly, as if trying to come up with euphemisms for each description.

 _Wait, what!? Behavior issues!? I don't have-_ Cassie was angered at being labeled as such but her mom quickly continued,

"Not everyone has behavior problems, don't worry, I'm sure there'll be plenty of nice girls and you'll make friends. But there are also lots of kids there with dyslexia like you. They know how hard it can be, and so do the teachers. I know it's scary, you starting half way through the year, so don't be afraid to ask the teachers for anything, okay?"

Cassie just nodded as her mom continued.

"Now, I'll be up to visit in just four weeks, but you still need to write and call me, okay?" Ms. Barton continued with her instructions but Cassie was only half listening to the rest. She now knew enough to be more sure of what was going on; she went to Yancy, a boarding school for kids with learning and behavior problems (Cassie cringed at that again. She was the perfect student! She didn't need to be there), and she was just starting there this semester. She nodded to herself. _Okay, okay..._ She could do this. She still didn't remember anything about transferring schools or not being able to read, but she could do this.

Cassie's mom finished her last bit of advice on 'how to survive the semester' when they pulled up in front of a huge, three-story, grey stone building. Cassie got out and took her luggage from the trunk, putting the bulging backpack on her back and adjusting the small rolling suitcase in her grip.

 _Now or never…._ Yeah right. Cassie wasn't going to tell her mom. As long as she could ignore her messed up memories, it would almost be like nothing weird was happening.

When they had reached the top of the steps, Cassie paused and tried to muster all the determination she could.

She looked up at the entrance to her school. The name _Yancy Academy_ was engraved in huge font above the front door and Cassie found herself even more upset at the memories she was sure were there but that she just couldn't reach.

 _Yancy_. She was 100% positive she had heard that name before. And she was 100% nervous about going inside.

"Come on, it's freezing!" Her mother urged as she passed her daughter and took a hold of the huge brass door handle. Cassie, realizing her mom was right and that she was terribly cold, rushed inside.

Cassie blinked, momentarily taken off guard by the blinding fluorescent lights and stark white walls and hallway. _So this is Yancy…._

Cassie didn't have time to take it in though since her mother immediately set off down a corridor to their left, leaving her daughter having to hurry to catch up.

It was late in the evening so Cassie wasn't surprised that all of the offices they passed were empty. The only one that seemed to be occupied was the room furthest down the hallway, right at the end of the corridor. The door was open and as they approached Cassie could hear the _clack clack clack_ of a keyboard coming from within. She tried to read the identifying sign next to the door but all she could make out was 'principal'. The name below was indecipherable, but Cassie thought that was because of the name itself, not because she couldn't see it correctly. Still, Cassie _knew_ she had never had a reading problem before and it frustrated her.

Ms. Barton stopped just outside the wide open door but still gave a polite knock to announce their presence.

"Ahh! Ms. Barton!" The principal immediately stopped what he was doing when he saw them. He hurried out from behind his desk to shake the woman's hand, "I'm Dr. Kravosky. I'm so glad you both made it. I was so worried when you called and told me about the accident," The cheerful man turned to Cassie and greeted her with a handshake as well.

"I was so relieved," Dr. Kravosky continued sounding very sincere, "To hear that you're okay. We're so glad you're back."

Cassie smiled up at him. She liked this guy. He seemed like a good principal. "Glad to be back," she replied.

The principal returned her smile and gave her a friendly squeeze on the shoulder, just like Dr. Miller had. Her bruised one again. She tried not to flinch. _Gosh_ , she though, _what's with everyone?_ Cassie didn't think she'd ever had people use that gesture with her before, and now that her shoulder was hurting, they wouldn't stop.

"Now," The principal started and clasped his hands together, "Have you had dinner yet?" Cassie shook her head 'no'. "Well, I told the cooks you would probably be coming late, if you wanted to head to the cafeteria- Oh, look!" The principal spotted someone coming down the hallway and called them over with an energetic, "Grover!", then looked back at Cassie and suggesting, "Why doesn't Grover join you so you have some company?"

Cassie didn't know who 'Grover' was, but she replied with a "Sure," as she turned around to look at the kid coming towards them.

He, well… He certainly wasn't a handsome guy. Grover had bad acne and unkempt curly brown hair that was partly hidden by a Rasta cap that Cassie thought looked pretty tacky. His shirt had some band logo on it that Cassie didn't recognize, and it looked like he had the slightest hint of a beard starting to grow.

The thing Cassie really noticed though, was the crutches.

And then, it all clicked.

Boarding school. Yancy. Crutches. Grover...

She froze.

"No way…."

* * *

Before you leave, I know. I _KNOW._ Every author asks for them. But just rate this 1-10, that's all I ask. If you get to the review page and decide you might as well add some more since you're already there, that's great! And very much appreciated! And you making it this far is appreciated too, so thanks.

So. I'd been reading a lot of PJO reincarnation stories lately and had this weird urge to write and upload my take on one. I feel like this chapter is slightly rushed in some ways, but at the same time, it's well over 3000 words, and this is like the second story I've typed in almost 5 years, s it'll have to do. I'm also sure it could use another editing run-through, but I'm the slowest editor ever and I really just want to be done with this chapter so again, it'll have to do.


	2. Chapter 2

I made a few tweaks in the first chapter (10/3), if you care. They're semi significant, but you can figure them out if you don't care to read that monstrosity again. Note at the end of the chapter if you make it that far, disclaimer here: This is a work of fan fiction using the world and some of the characters created by Rick Riordan. He owns them, I don't.

* * *

 _No. Way._

 _Nonononono. You have_ got _to be kidding me._

Cassie stared wide-eyed in shock. This was _not_ happening.

Gover! Yancy!

She was in the freaking Percy Jackson story, wasn't she!?

Cassie blinked in disbelief before trying to compose her expression.

 _I've gone insane. I'm crazy. This is… This is…. This can't be happening._

Cassie wished she wasn't surrounded by people so that she could shake her head clear, or laugh, or scream, or bang her head against a wall- anything, really, that would make it all make sense.

But she couldn't, and Grover was just a few feet away, so she forced herself to take a breath. Just one thing at a time.

 _Deep breath. Oh my gosh. Grover._ _Act normal._ She instructed herself, _Say 'hi' to Grover._

"Hey," She greeted.

 _Nailed it_. It had sounded totally normal; not the totally freaked and panicked tone that she expected to burst out.

Grover gave a friendly "Hi" back, but he didn't seem interested in her because his gaze didn't linger on Cassie for more than a moment.

"Grover," Dr. Kravosky stated, still smiling, "I have your new schedule right here, sorry about the confusion with it yesterday."

Grover thanked the man and told him that it had been no problem.

"Can I ask a favor though?" The principal continued, and of course, you can't say 'no' to the principal. Grover was no exception and Dr. Kravosky continued, "This is Cassie, she's in your grade and is just starting here this semester, would you be willing to show her the cafeteria and keep her some company while she gets some dinner?

Cassie blinking wide-eyed at Grover. That was Grover-Freaking-Underwood, standing not five feet from her. Grover Underwood!

Grover turned to her and Cassie snapped her gaze away, hoping he hadn't noticed her staring.

She focused on the desk next to her, her heart pounding. _No way…. No way…_ She couldn't believe it.

And now, she would be having dinner with one of the most, if not _the most,_ famous satyrs ever. Cassie inwardly grimaced. Or, at least, kept it as inward as she could. This would be _just great_. Trying to keep her cool in front of _the_ Grover. In _the_ Yancy Academy. Where _the_ Chiron taught. Where _the_ Percy Jackson went to school!

 _Or is this before Percy got to Yancy?_ Cassie paused. _Or…After? No. Grover went looking for Pan after the first book didn't he? It couldn't be after… And it couldn't be before, since Grover was a 6_ _th_ _grader in the book._

Gah! _The book._ Cassie was in a _book_! This was insane!

And… She realized, a little bit exciting. A lot a bit exciting. _Woah._

"Sure," Grover told the principal. He turned to Cassie to see if she was ready to go.

Cassie forced herself to focus back in the moment and said goodbye to her mom as they embraced each other one final time. "Call me anytime," Ms. Barton told her daughter again. "I love you, sweetie. Have fun, okay?"

"Love you too, mom. I'll talk to you soon,"

Cassie probably would have teared up at the thought of leaving her mom for so long, but as she and Grover started walking down the hall, her mind was racing far too much to be sad.

She was in a _book_! A freaking _book_! One where she knew what was going to happen! She could change everything!-

 _No!_ Cassie immediately stopped that train of thought. _The good guys won in the end, why would I want to change anything?_ Even the tiniest thing she did, just a single conversation, could change the outcome, couldn't it? _But… What if me being here already changes everything? No..._ Cassie mentally shook her head. She was just some random kid. Her being there didn't matter. She wouldn't even see Percy after this school year, would she?

Cassie froze mid-step, eyes wide. _Oh my gosh. Oh my…. No way-…._ Cassie wasn't just some normal kid, was she? At least, not anymore.

Cassie had never met her father. She knew her mom and his relationship had been short. Ms. Barton didn't try to hide the fact that he hadn't been around for her birth. Cassie had never cared much though, that's just the way her mom was; she wasn't the type to settle down and she and Cassie had done just fine on their own.

But now… Now Cassie was dyslexic. She was dyslexic and had never met her dad, who had left before she was born. She didn't think she had ADHD, but still… There was no way… _No way_ … Was there?

And if she _was_ , then she would definitely be involved in the story. And she could still change everything if she let something slip. _I can't…. I can't tell anyone, can I?_ Cassie took yet another deep breath.

Grover turned when he noticed Cassie pausing, "Do you want me to help you carry those?" He offered, nodding towards Cassie's bags.

The stupid question nocked her back into the present and she raised an eyebrow questionably. _Grover, you're on crutches,_ she mentally thought to him, and out loud, "I'm okay, but thanks".

Cassie adjusted her suitcase like it had been the reason she stopped and the two continued towards the cafeteria. _Okay, okay. Small talk._ Cassie thought as she followed, _Just… Not about anything Camp-Half Blood related. No gods, no monsters, no Percy… No Percy._ So what _was_ she supposed to talk about!? This was going to be so awkward, they would end up sitting in silence the whole time, and-

"So how was your winter break?" Grover interrupted her thoughts. Cassie's shoulders fell from the release of tension Oh yeah, that's what normal people talk about. She could do that.

"It was nice," What a lame reply, "Wish it was longer though," Cassie could have punched herself. _Stupid response. Stupid._ She chided herself, but then decided it didn't matter since that was a normal answer, right? Complaining about school? Cassie knew she was thinking too hard.

"Haha, yeah," Thank… The gods… Grover was polite enough to fake amusement.

 _Thank the gods… The gods!_ Cassie couldn't believe she was using the expression.

"You did come a day late though, it was longer than all of ours"

Cassie supposed so, but jumped in before Grover could say anything else and directed the conversation away from her, "So, how was yours?"

Once Cassie had gotten a simple plate full of baked beans and some corn from the cafeteria worker still cleaning up from dinner, she and Grover went to sit down across from each other at a table near the door. Cassie was able to keep him talking easily enough (And she did have her mouth full most of the time so she didn't have to talk much), but she didn't learn anything too helpful. Grover had gone home for the holidays. He had hung out with friends and was excited to be back. His favorite class was Latin, and his favorite teacher was Mr. Brunner.

 _Surprise, surprise,_ Cassie thought at that.

"So do we have any classes together?" Grover asked. They both put their schedules sideways on the table to compare.

 _English… Pre algebra… Earth science. P.E., social studies_ … Cassie could have ripped the paper in two. It wasn't impossible for her to read, but it was more difficult than it should have been. Cassie was so used to being able to race through books though that the new impediment irritated her immensely.

She was pleased to see that all of her classes were ones that she remembered taking last semester, so she hoped that she wouldn't be behind everyone else…. Except for her last class of the day: Latin.

Cassie didn't know a word of Latin. Well, maybe ' _Carpe Diem'_ , but she didn't think that really counted. She would definitely be behind everyone else in there.

"Just Latin and English," Grover told her, "And I think my friend Percy is in your math class. There's a new teacher this semester. Percy hates her."

"Mrs. Dodds?" Cassie blurted, not needing to read the name off of her schedule. _Mrs. Dodds the fury?_ Cassie was once again reminded that she was in a whole new universe. _No way. No freaking way._

"Yeah…She kind of terrifies me," Grover blushed a little at the confession.

Cassie tried not to smirk at his slight embarrassment for admitting that. She didn't want to belittle him for being a wimp though so she tried to respond with her own confession, "Latin kind of terrifies me", even though it wasn't the actual subject that she was worried about, but the fact that she would be a few month behind everyone else in the class.

Grover perked up at that.

"Oh, well," he said slowly at first, "I'd be happy to help you if want. I'm pretty good at it."

Cassie was almost beaming as she started to clean up her mess from her meal and answered excitedly, "That would be great!"

Grover gave a sheepish smile in return and they started walking towards their rooms.

Cassie thanked him for keeping her company at dinner, and she apologized for interrupting his night.

Grover was nice and polite enough to say it was fine, and told her the girl's dorms were "Just down this hall".

He was also nice and polite enough to walk her all the way to her new room.

"Well, thanks again," Cassie told him as she stopped in front of the door with her name, along with five others, on it. "It was nice meeting you,"

"Yeah, nice meeting you. And I'll see you tomorrow I guess,"

"See you tomorrow. Goodnight,"

"'Night"

Cassie turned to the door and took a breath. This was it, about to meet all her new roommates. She nocked. A freckled girl with red hair answered a moment later.

She looked pretty friendly; she had a delighted smile when she saw Cassie and greeted her with an excited, "Hi! You must be Cassie!"

But Cassie instantly got bad vibes from her. Still, she smiled back and answered that she was, and went inside to meet the other girls and get settled.

The redhead who had greeted her at the door said her name was Nancy. Cassie could only assume it was Nancy Bobofit and her shoulders immediately slumped. _Well this is going to be a fun semester,_ she decided sarcastically.

Most of the other girls seemed nice enough though. A couple helped her unpack the few things she had brought, and they all stayed up past curfew getting to know each other and explaining Yancy to Cassie; which teachers were good, where everything was, which boys were the cutest….

Cassie was so distracted by her new friends that by the time they decided to finally go to sleep, she had almost (but only almost) forgotten about her new… Situation. She was so exhausted though, that when her head hit the pillow she immediately fell into a deep, blissful sleep.

But it didn't stay that way.

* * *

The faintest of voices tried calling out to Cassie. Its sound slurred and soften by the time it got to her, hardly a whisper.

"Cass..."

Cassie didn't know where she was. It felt like she was floating, but it was pitch black, darker than she had ever seen before, so for all she knew she was still in her bed.

"Cass..pia..."

But Cassie couldn't really feel her body. She knew it was there, but she felt... Limp. Disconnected from it. Like her brain was the only thing that was working.

"Cassiopia"

Cassie's eyes darted around to search for the man, the voice finally coherent enough to make sense of the name it was calling. "What the heck?"

The voice didn't answer her though. It didn't say anything again, and Cassie began to worry. "Hello?" She asked tentatively, afraid of what creatures might be out there.

What was going on? She couldn't see anything. Now she couldn't hear anything besides her own voice. No ringing in her ears, no sound of blood pumping through her skull. It was as if all of her senses had stopped working. She couldn't smell. She couldn't feel; No gravity, no wind, no heat, no cold; Just an empty void.

She began to panic, and called out again, "Hello?"

There was still no answer. Cassie began to feel very alone, the nothingness beginning to terrify her. What was happening!? She needed something, _anything_ to break the lack of sensations.

"Hello!?" This time Cassie screamed it. Her heart rate was accelerating. The emptiness all around her scaring her more easily than any nightmareous monster possibly could.

When she was sure she was about to start break down in fearful sobs, the voice called out again. Louder, this time, with a booming clarity that made a small part of Cassie wish it would go back to being silent. The voice was terrifying. Dangerous. Even with just that one simple word he kept repeating. That one name.

"Cassiopeia..."

* * *

Cassie's eyes flew open.

Her breath came in heavy pants and she felt her heart pounding in her chest at a million miles a minute. Cassie's eyes darted around her room, finally able to take in information and she instantly began to relax. The bed- she felt the bed. Felt the gravity keeping her on it. She saw her roommates begin to stir, noting the cause as a shrilling alarm clock at the end of the room.

It was okay, _it was just a dream_ , she reassured herself, and after a few moments getting her vitals to slower rates, she felt _almost_ fine again.

The girl on her left, she forgot her name, swung her legs over the side of the bed and stretched.

 _Time for school_ , Cassie supposed, and sat up as well, not giving anymore thought to her nightmare. She had scarier things to worry about: her first day of school.

And about just what the heck was going on. It didn't take Cassie long to remember her situation. Apparently her roommates weren't morning people, which disappointed Cassie since she was an early riser and already wide awake. The quietness of her new friends though gave her time to think though. Why would she, of all people, Cassie wondered as she brushed her teeth, be the one to end up in the Percy Jackson universe? And why was she there? What was the point?

She decided that she was right about keeping it a secret from Chiron... Mr. Brunner... Because there was really no point in telling him or anyone else. Not at the moment, at least. And she still didn't want to even be there. Why would she ever involve herself? The good guys won in the end, and she didn't want to risk messing that up.

What would she even change, anyways? _It's not like anyone important dies_ , Cassie thought indifferently, and instantly rebuked herself. _Tons of people died!_ She reminded herself of the final battle in New York. _That Apollo kid on the bridge..._

Cassie was even more ashamed at her uncaring thought when she realized she couldn't really name anyone who died. These were real people now, not just some fictional book characters. She thought should feel sad, that she should want to prevent their death.

 _Except for Luke and Silena_. Cassie thought scornfully, knowing that she was acting callous but not being able to help it. _They deserve what they got... Unless,_ she speculated, _I'm supposed to change that... Make them... 'See the light'... To stay on the good guy's side..._

Cassie shook her head at the idea, instantly deciding that was stupid and cliché. She almost laughed out loud. _Cliché._ She had been dragged into the world of Percy Jackson and didn't think she should stop Luke and Silena from turning bad because it was _cliché_?

Cassie told herself she was an idiot. And decided that none of her ideas mattered right then anyways. Whatever caused her to end up there, _whoever_ , she corrected herself uncertainly, might have brought her there for a reason. There was no way she was dropped into Yancy to end up at the beginning of the series by coincidence. If whoever did it wanted her to change something, they would tell her, she decided.

She could either wait for some instructions to come, or figure it out once it even became relevant. But Cassie realized she had almost a whole semester of nothing much that would happen, so she decided that right then, the only thing she could really do was go and get some breakfast.

Most of her classes weren't bad. Yancy was a school for "delinquents" as everybody was quick to label themselves (Something Cassie thought was a bit odd), and so class sizes were small to make it easy on the teachers. There were only about a dozen students in each of her classes, which unfortunately increased the chances of the teacher calling on her exponentially.

The teachers seemed nice enough though. Well, except for Mrs. Dodds, obviously, but like Grover said, Percy was in the class with Cassie and fortunately (for Cassie- not for Percy) Mrs. Dodds hated Percy. She completely ignored Cassie in order to make him miserable.

In Mrs. Dodds' defense though, Cassie decided Percy _was_ a little disrespectful. He got up to 'sharpen his pencil' at least twice every class and 'whispered' to his neighbor very indiscreetly. Cassie knew he had ADHD, but she decided he was still a little rude to her.

Which only made Mrs. Dodds dislike Percy even more. Which made Percy dislike _her_ even more, which ended up creating a never ending loop. Cassie ultimately decided their mutual distaste was mostly his fault though, and it wasn't just because of who his father was.

Cassie didn't try to talk to Percy much at first. What would she say? "Hey, I'm Cassie. Oh, no, I know who you are. You're Percy Jackson and your mom is Sally and your dad is Poseidon, god of the ocean. Want to know your fatal flaw?"

Yeah, she didn't think so either.

She also avoided him since he also sort of intimidated her. It was Pecry-freaking-Jackson for gods' sake! He was also in her English and social studies class though, so she couldn't avoid him entirely, and she couldn't avoid Grover either, especially since they somehow ended up sitting together at a few meals the first week. It would have been rude of her to stop talking to him after he was one of her first friends there,

Latin turned out to be a lot of fun. Chiron, _Mr. Bruner_ , Cassie found herself having to mentally correct constantly, was actually a really great teacher and he was completely understanding of her being totally lost in his class. Overall life at Yancy wasn't too hard, and Cassie found herself easily falling into a routine at her new school.

And for a while, it all felt normal.

And then, towards the end of the school year, they went on a field trip.

* * *

I wrote that first chapter on a whim, like I mentioned, and wrote this one still with no idea where the story would be going. I have great excuses for why this one took a while, but I know you guys don't actually care. I know you _do_ care that this chapter needs so much more TLC than I gave it though. Sorry it's still sloppy, but it would have been a couple more days if I didn't post it now. I'll fix it someday.

Lastly, if anyone is interested in a very low-key beta-ing gig, please shoot me a pm or mention it in a review.


	3. Chapter 3

This is a work of fan fiction using the world and some of the characters created by Rick Riordan. He owns them, I don't.

Recap, since it's been forever: Cassie woke up in a hospital. She got to Yancy and met Grover...  
Not much has happened, actually.

* * *

Cassie could hardly contain herself. She had been waiting for this day for weeks now. This was it! The field trip! This is where it all started! And she would get to witness it firsthand! How cool would that be?

Cassie could barely sleep the night before their fieldtrip. She hadn't been sleeping well anyways- she kept having nightmares about trapped in that void, but this time she was stuck staring at her ceiling hours after the lights had been turned out because of excitement.

None of the other students at Yancy really cared about going to a history museum, but still, every one of them was thrilled to have a day off from classes. There was an air of excitement during breakfast and Cassie practically bounced to the bus when they had finished. She trailed right behind Percy and Grover in the line to get on so she could be sure to sit directly behind them.

This was it. This was it!

She could have squealed.

It would be perfect; she would be able to see and hear everything. It was really happening!

Cassie felt someone sit down next to her; Megan, her best friend. She gave a quick greeting to be polite and focused onto the two boys in front of her.

"Marcus said some of the guys were going to watch the game tonight," She heard Grover start, "Want to join?"

Percy seemed to think a 'guys' night' and watching 'the game' sounded "awesome" and started talking with Grover about who was probably going to win.

Cassie frowned and sunk back into the seat just a bit. _How lame_. Though, it was stupid really, she decided, to think that the two guys in front of her would be doing anything other than boring 'guy talk' the whole trip into the city. Or that Nancy Bobofit would have enough PB &K (Because only Nancy would use ketchup instead of jelly) to throw at them for the whole ride.

Cassie's mood quickly fell. The whole ride was rather dull and she began wishing she had picked a better seat closer to the rest of her friends.

 _Uggh_ , she sighed, she should have thought this through better.

Thought it through better, or paid more attention to the pair in front of her. The only reason Cassie noticed something starting to happen was when one of Nancy's sandwich wads ended up one row short of Grover and landed in Megan's hair instead.

Megan had a short temper. And she wasn't a fan of Nancy. She sprang up and whipped around to look at the redhead in the row behind her.

"Can you _not_?" Megan snapped, and Nancy started laughing. Of course, that only irritated Megan more, and she lunged over the seat and grabbed at Nancy's hair.

"AHH!" Nancy shrieked, and tried to fight off the other girl, "AHH!"

Cassie jumped to quickly pull on Megan's arm and try to get her friend off of Nancy. Not because she really cared if the bully got beat up, of course, but because she didn't want Megan to get in trouble, "Hey, cut it out!" She ordered.

Megan, like any true friend would do, ignored her. "You're such a brat Nancy! Why don't you-"

"Mrs. Dodds!" Nancy continued to squeal, "Mrs. Dodds! Mr. Brunner!"

 _Oh, come on_ , Cassie rolled her eyes, still trying to separate the girls, "You're going to get in trouble! Megan! Come on! The teachers are going to-"

"GIRLS!"

The whole bus froze.

Megan didn't dare move a muscle as Mrs. Dodd's voice boomed throughout the bus. "Megan! Get up here, now!"

Still, no one moved.

"Now!"

Slowly and reluctantly, Megan let go of Nancy and turned towards the front of the bus. Everyone watched silently as she made her way to the front.

 _Way to go,_ _Megan_ , Cassie huffed. Now Megan would probably be stuck with Mrs. Dodds the whole trip. Cassie wouldn't be able to be with her friend at all! She brought her legs onto the seat now that there was extra room, and pulled her knees into her chest.

She huffed again. That would hardly even be a punishment, too! Being stuck up there with the teachers, or really, being stuck near Mr. Brunner sounded like an awesome way to spend a trip to a museum. It was more a punishment for Cassie, who wouldn't be able to talk to anyone for the rest of the trip.

Unless she started talking to Nancy and her delinquent friend. Or Percy and Grover about sports. Cassie rolled her eyes, deciding she would rather brood in silence.

She was glaring at the other kids on the bus a few minutes later, her frustration growing at them being able to have fun and her stuck there alone, when at last, she heard Grover, "It's okay. I like peanut butter."

Then, Percy's "That's it."

Cassie perked up as she saw the dark haired boy start to stand but couldn't hear anything else they said under all of the noise.

Grover pulled Percy back into his seat and Cassie watched intently…. And nothing happened.

 _Was that it!?_ Cassie clenched her jaw. _How._ _Lame_. If she didn't get to see some good action later that day... She had been looking forward to this trip all semester. And it _better_ not disappoint.

Now, Cassie thought the museum was nice, but she just wasn't all that impressed with ancient artifacts. They were old and weathered and you couldn't make out half of the words and pictures on them anymore. Not that she thought modern art was any better, but she just wasn't too psyched about seeing anything on the trip. She was, however, interested in hearing Mr. Brunner's commentary on it all. And not just because he had lived through half the stuff.

Chiron had perfected the art of storytelling. It's why his classes were so interesting and why everyone loved him. People actually wanted to hear him teach.

Besides Nancy, of course, who had been talking throughout half of his tour. Cassie had been so absorbed by Mr. Brunner's lessons that she hadn't even noticed when they finally come to a huge stele with a giant sphinx on top and a naked man on the side.

Nancy was just a few feet away from Cassie though, and Cassie _did_ notice when the girl commented on his "wiener" (her words).

Cassie rolled her eyes.

Nancy and her friend sniggered.

Percy told them to shut up.

Everyone laughed at him.

"Mr. Jackson, did you have a comment?" Mr. Brunner asked.

Some of the kids giggled again. Percy's face was totally red and he was looking at his feet, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"No, sir." He finally stammered.

"Mhmm," Mr. Brunner acknowledged, completely unconvinced.

Cassie's head snapped up, _Oh gosh_ , she thought as she dug her nails into the palm of her hand so she wouldn't start fangirling, _This is it! This is it!_

"Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?" Mr. Brunner asked Percy.

Cassie didn't think Chiron thought very much of Percy.

Cassie had been in his class all semester. Mr. Brunner had taught them a lot. After being his student for months at Yancy, how could you _not_ know what the picture was of?

It was a giant guy holding a baby to his mouth, like he was eating a sandwich. They'd talked about it what seemed like every day in class. Cassie knew Percy knew the answer though. Or, most of it.

"God?" Mr. Brunner cut Percy off, asking in that teacher-sort-of-way that makes you know you said the wrong thing.

"Titan," Percy remembered, "And, he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um," Percy said every line like it was a question, "Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead."

"Kronos was an idiot," Cassie heard Nancy say to her friend. Nancy's friend and Cassie both nodded.

"And later," Percy was on a roll now, "When Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"

"Eeew!" Nancy's friend said.

"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans, and the gods won."

Nancy added in more of her own commentary, this time about how they'd never need to know that in the real world.

Mr. Brunner, despite his regular tolerance for stupid remarks and interruptions, called her out on it.

"And why, Mr. Jackson, to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

Cassie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning. _Got 'em_. Most of the other kids didn't restrain themselves though and a couple laughed at the redhead's expense.

"Busted," Grover smirked.

Nancy crossed her arms like she was trying to hide herself and under her breath she told Grover to shut up.

After a moment Percy spoke up again, "I don't know, sir."

Mr. Brunner nodded, "I see. Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson," He said, like he was ever going to remember to give Percy any sort of credit for the answer. Then Mr. Brunner explained, for the nth time that year, the story of Kronos and Zeus, and finished, "On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

Cassie struggled to walk normally as they made their way outside _. This is it. This is it!_ She thought, yet again, _This is where the whole story started. It's really happening._

Cassie quickly sat down on the front steps with her friends. She made sure to get a good view of the fountain.

 _THE fountain! This is it!_

Cassie looked around after she took out her lunch, searching for where everyone was.

Nancy was trying to steal from some lady's purse (not that Cassie cared- if the lady left her purse unguarded in New York City she deserved to be robbed), _right on schedule_. Mrs. Dodds was standing erect in front of a wall with her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes constantly scanning the students like a watchdog. Cassie was mildly impressed at how seriously she was taking her role as chaperone.

Cassie saw Percy sit down with Grover. And Mr. Brunner. _Chiron_. Last but not least. He had parked his wheelchair away from the students and was starting to read.

Cassie frowned. She didn't get Chiron. And not because he was a couple-thousand year old centaur. And not because he had set up an umbrella from the back of his wheelchair despite the fact that it was neither sunny and helping create shade, nor raining (although there _were_ some storm clouds headed their way).

Cassie didn't get why he was there in the first place.

She knew why he was there- because Grover had 'detected' Percy as being powerful, but it's not like Chiron being at Yancy had helped with anything, had it? He hadn't warned Percy about anything. He hadn't really taught him anything special.

Percy was doing just as well as if Chiron had never come. Right?

Cassie finally shrugged. Maybe he was preventing Mrs. Dodds from attacking Percy or something. Then she paused. _Chiron didn't even do that!_ _He made Percy fight her himself!_

Speaking of which...

Cassie watched with interest as Nancy, followed by two of her friends, strode towards Percy and Grover. The redhead stopped directly in front of the boys and placed one hand on her hip while the other held the half sandwich she hadn't thrown at Grover while on the bus.

Cassie wasn't close enough to hear her say anything, but she did clearly see the girl stick her hand straight out and drop her food all over Grover's lap.

It was almost instantaneous, and despite knowing and seeing what happened, Cassie could still hardly believe it.

One second Nancy was standing there all smug, and the next, the water and engulfed her and drew her into the fountain. She was sitting in the fountain, completely drenched, screaming "Percy pushed me!" before Cassie could even process what happened.

Almost as quickly, Mrs. Dodds had come to see what was going on.

"Did you see what happened?" One of Cassie's friends asked, now that everyone was staring at the spectacle.

 _See what happened... Magic. Percy's powers! Oh gosh, this is real. The gods are_ really _real._

"Percy just pushed her in the fountain," Someone answered.

"No he didn't," Cassie quickly corrected, "He was sitting down the whole time."

Another of her friends nodded in agreement. "The water... It was like it grabbed her."

"What?" Her friend asked, "Haha. I think you guys are seeing things. What kind of drugs did they put in your sandwiches?" A couple of the girls laughed and continued joking with each other. They didn't pay the fountain incident any more attention.

But Cassie couldn't look away.

"Wait!" Cassie barely heard Grover yelp. She still couldn't make out anything that they were saying, but she knew what was going on. Grover looked at Chiron desperately, but the centaur was oblivious. Only when Mrs. Dodds and Percy were at the top of the museum steps did Grover dare move to warn Chiron.

 _This is it!_ Cassie wondered if it would be okay to go and try to watch the fight.

Mrs. Dodds didn't care about Cassie at all, and she probably wouldn't even notice her if she made sure to stay far, far out of the way.

Yep. She would try it.

"I'll be right back," She told her friends, and got up to follow them all into the museum.

A Fury! She was going to see a real life Fury! Cassie sped through the front entrance. She could just see Mr. Brunner's wheelchair at the end of the hall when she heard Grover call to her from behind.

"Cassie!"

Cassie would have pretended not to hear him, but at that moment the loudest and longest bout of thunder she had ever heard shook the building. Her surprise at the boom made her pause in her step, but she quickly grinned, realizing that the eerie sound fit the situation perfectly, and it only fueled her determination to see the fight.

"Cassie, wait!"

But then there was that again _. Grove quit ruining this!_ Cassie spun around but continued walking backwards, "I'll be right back!" She said with forced cheeriness, "I have to use the bathroom real quick."

Cassie turned back around but didn't see Chiron anywhere in sight. _Shoot, where'd they go!?_ She was going to miss it!

"The restrooms are that way!" She heard Grover call out. And then she heard the clatter of crutches and a soft thump as he tripped and fell.

 _Grover!_ Cassie balled her fists in frustration when she saw him on the floor. She couldn't ignore him- she would have seemed like such a jerk. "Are you okay?" Cassie sprinted back to where he had fallen and tried to get him back on his feet as quickly as possible.

"I'm fine," He responded instantly, and then Cassie could see him change his mind. "Err, actually, I think I hurt my leg. Could you help me back outside?"

 _What!? No!_ Cassie could have screamed at him. She was missing it! He was totally lying! She could totally tell! He was just doing this so she wouldn't get in the way of Mrs. Dodds and Percy and _Aggg!_

Cassie bit her tongue. Why did he have to make this so hard! "I actually really have to pee, give me just one second though," Cassie was about to dash off once she made sure grover was standing okay when she heard, quite probably, the worst sound possible.

"Grover. Cassie." Mr. Brunner said in surprise from down the hall. "Why aren't you outside with the others?"

 _Why aren't YOU!?_ She could have screamed.

Well, there went her chance at seeing the monster.

"We were just headed back out there, sir." Grover said flatly, but Cassie could see the worried and questioning look on his face.

As their teacher rolled closer, Cassie saw him give the slightest nod to Grover. She could see him visibly relax as she heard him let out an audible breath.

Chiron calmly turned to Cassie. "Why don't you go finish your lunch," He suggested, "I need to ask a favor of Grover."

 _Yeah fat chance, you prick. Making me miss my Fury,_ "I was actually helping him back out. He hurt his leg just now." Cassie was careful not to let any hint of smugness show. If they were going to ruin her show, she was going to be difficult. "I can wait a second."

But Chiron wasn't fazed at all which made Cassie the slightest bit disappointed.

"Very well," He said, and then held up his hand and snapped his fingers.

But it wasn't a normal snap.

It was loud, sharp, like a firework, and a gust of wind seemed to explode from his hand.

Cassie blinked. _Was that…?_ She blinked again.

 _Woah. That was the Mist, wasn't it!_

Cassie wished she could do that. She could get away with anything! But she couldn't snap her fingers, so she figured she was out of luck for now though.

"Cassie, shouldn't you be outside with the others?" Mr. Brunner finally asked.

 _Mrs. Dodds_. Cassie was repeating the name to herself. _Yep,_ she concluded, she remembered. _Ha_ , Cassie thought smugly. The mist hadn't worked on her.

"I just had to use the restroom, sorry." She replied after a moment, and turned towards back towards the doors.

 _Ha!_

 _Stupid Mist, Can't even work right._ And then she remembered and corrected herself, _Stupid Chiron and_ _Grover…_ _Didn't_ _even get_ _to see the Fury._

But then again, Cassie _did_ get to see the fountain incident; the water completely attack Nancy.

 _Oh, gosh_. Cassie paused in her step. There was absolutely zero doubt about it now. It was all real, and Percy was the son of Poseidon.

 _The son of Poseidon!_ _How do they not realize it? He_ _completely_ _controlled the water back there, who else's kid would he be? Apollo's?_ Cassie rolled her eyes. They were sort of dumb, she thought, for not realizing his parentage. Black hair, green eyes, water powers. Totally obvious, she thought.

Cassie wasn't so lucky. She couldn't figure out her father's identity at all. There was nothing special about her. Blonde hair, average looks, athletic, but not amazing in gym. She was smart, but she didn't care about learning (not that she thought Athena was in the lineup for potential parents), but nothing stood out.

Cassie's exhilarated mood became a little more glum. She supposed she didn't expect her father to claim her out of the blue- she was still at Yancy. She wasn't even at the camp yet. Hadn't made any sacrifices to him to get his attention or anything...

Cassie's interest was piqued again as she sat back down with her friends but she ignored them as she started eating her lunch. _Sacrifices_. _That could do it, maybe. Or maybe people at camp could figure it out._ Summer was just a few weeks away, after all. Camp's summer session should be starting any day…

She needed a way to get there first though.

Cassie frowned as she saw Percy come out of the museum. She knew how Percy got to camp, but how was she going to manage it?

* * *

I've got excuses, but none good enough to justify how long of a break this has been. Not that you guys care, I'm sure. Even I hate this story, and I'm the one writing it. The good news is, TheSockThatEndedUpInNarnia helped beta this chapter. It definitely helped, so many thanks to them.


	4. Chapter 4

Heh, uh, I promised I would update this story. And I am. And I will. My bad. My excuses were great- for the first month. The rest has just been… My bad... But. Here's a chapter. And the next two chapters are 100% written. Just not edited. I'm not the biggest fan of this one, but if I edit it more it's going to be another month so it's probably best for me to just deal with it. Sorry.

* * *

There were two weeks left of school. A week of classes, a week of finals, and then a too-short summer. Obviously, Cassie couldn't wait. She was actually so excited that she couldn't sleep.

That was only part of the reason she couldn't sleep though. There was a lot going on in her life that left her mind racing during the middle of the night.

Sixth grade was a tough time for Cassie- it's a tough time for anyone, really. The stress of classes, typical preteen drama, constant nightmares for her of course (though, by now Cassie knew what to expect every time she ended up in that void with the cryptic unhelpful voice. It didn't scare her anymore, but it sure wasn't the same as a restful sleep), and on top of that, she still didn't know how she was going to get to Camp.

It didn't leave her much time to relax.

So she was at breakfast Saturday morning, alone, and since it was early and her friends were still sleeping it was a perfect opportunity to think about how she was going to get to Camp.

Cassie had tried to figure out if her mom knew that her father was a god, since that would have made things a hundred times easier, but it hadn't gone as hoped. Her mom didn't seem to know anything about Cassie's father.

 _"But come on, was he tall? Fat? Blond? Ugly? Any tattoos or—"_

 _"Cassie!" Her mom interrupted, then took a calming breath and continued, "Cassie. It was a long time ago. I didn't know him for very_ _long."_

 _"No photos or anything? Mom, come on." She pressed._

 _"No, no photos."_

 _"Come on! I just want to know what I'll look like when I grow up... He wasn't, like, a psycho... Was he? If my dad was a psycho I want to know."_

 _"Cassie, no, no. He was very nice. Very handsome."_

 _There was a short silence. "Is that it? That's all I get to know about my dad?" Well that sure wasn't going to help her find out his identity. "Goodness, how long did you even know this guy?" Cassie asked under her breath somewhat rhetorically._

 _"Yes," Her mom said shortly, ignoring her daughter's later question, "That's all you get to know!"_

 _Cassie blinked, taken aback at her mom's abruptness. She knew her mom was pretty... liberal... And she knew a god wouldn't want to stick around with a mortal for long, but…_

 _Somewhat hesitantly, she asked, "For longer or less than a weekend?"_

 _There was silence on the other end of the line, but Cassie figured that was basically an answer in itself. Her jaw dropped in disbelief. "_ MOM! _"_

 _Cassie could practically hear her mom roll her eyes. "You asked!"_

 _"You could have lied!"_

 _"I'm not a liar, Cassie,"_

 _"But kids don't want to know they're a mistake from a one night stand! Mom! Agh!" Cassie put the phone down for a second and decided she didn't really like discussing her mom's sex life. "Mom, I gotta go." She announced suddenly, "I gotta go. I'll call tomorrow."_

 _They said their goodbyes and Cassie hung up the phone. She pressed the heel of her hands into her temples as she started walking back to her room, wishing she hadn't even asked._

And so, she figured there was no chance her mom would know Cassie's father was a god. Cassie would have to make it seem like she was going to a normal summer camp if she ever wanted to get to Camp Half-Blood.

She thought that would be easy enough, but she still needed Camp's help. To get an invitation or something from them to be able to go there.

Obviously she couldn't just show up without them saying anything first.

Maybe she could mention summer to Chiron; "Oh, Mr. Brunner, I can't wait for summer! Too bad I've got no plans though." and he could go all, "Oh, well, Cassie, there's this cool camp on Long Island, you should go," and it would be super simple.

 _Pff_ , Cassie though, _'Simple'. Sure_.

But then she saw Grover put his tray down across from her and take a seat.

"Good morning!" He said, with forced cheerfulness; Cassie could clearly see he was exhausted.

She hadn't seen him all week- busy studying, he said, whenever Cassie asked if he was free, which Cassie thought was absurd. He'd probably taken all these classes a half dozen times already. Why was he studying?

"Mind if I join you?" He asked, which Cassie thought was stupid, because he was already sitting.

"Please." _Okay_ , she figured, _this is good. Perfect_. maybe she could somehow bring camp up with Grover. Start with a normal conversation, then steer it straight towards summer.

Yep. She could do that. "So…. How come you're up so early?" She started.

Grover shifted a little nervously. "Actually... I wanted to talk to you."

Cassie paused. Blinked.

Grover played with his food as he spoke, "So, I heard you say the other day you weren't doing anything this summer. And, I was thinking, well, I go to this camp every summer. It's on Long Island,"

Cassie's jaw almost dropped. But she had been in the middle of chewing and that would have been gross. _Oh my gosh... You're kidding. You've_ got _to be kidding._ Her direct invitation to camp. _No way._ Cassie tried to control her enthusiasm.

"—and I don't know, I think you'd like it. If you wanted to come. I have a brochure, y'know, here, just, if you want to look at it, or..."

Cassie took the paper Grover had produced. She wanted to snatch it away giddily and read every line, every detail, call and tell them she would be there right away. But she couldn't.

Instead she glanced at all the pictures, trying to act only mildly interested, and gave a shrug. "Yeah it looks fun" she said casually. Or tried to sound casual about it, at least.

"It's pretty cheap too," Grover continued, "And they give scholarships if you need. The campers are super cool. And there's lots of fun activities. They do tons of bonfires with s'mores, there's rock climbing walls,"

 _Sword fighting, monster training, wrestling classes,_ Cassie filled in silently,

"It's right on the beach of Long Island Sound, so it's a really pretty place,"

Cassie finally looked up from the brochure when he stopped and asked, mildly joking, "So, do you get commissions or something?"

Grover blushed. "No, I just thought, you know, if you weren't doing anything else... It's a ton of fun. I think you'd really like it."

Cassie smiled.

 _Uh, YES!_ "Yeah, thanks, it looks great, I'll think about it… Talk to my mom..."

Grover seemed to relax. "Great. So, uh," He paused, "Worried about any of your finals?"

Cassie put the camp's brochure to the side. Worried about finals? Not a chance. She was a half-blood, and she had just been invited to Camp Half Blood. It was perfect. Life was perfect. No more worries what. So. Ever. Gods. It was all falling into place. One less thing to stress over. And finals and grades don't matter when you're a sixth grader, Cassie knew, which really only left one major thing for her to figure out.

* * *

"Cass...pia... Help me..."

 _Not again_. Cassie had gotten used to the dreams. They didn't terrify her like they used to, but they did irritate her. The Voice never said anything interesting. Maybe her name, 'help me', 'free me', once or twice it had said 'Find me', but that was it.

So now, Cassie would be stuck in The Void until The Voice had had enough of its ambiguous mumbling and let her wake up. Usually that happened pretty fast, but it still left her feeling tired when she did wake.

"Cassiopia..."

 _Ohh, got my whole name out that time_ , Cassie rolled her eyes, _nice job._

"Find me..." Cassie didn't bother asking a sarcastic 'how'. It wouldn't tell her.

There were a few minutes of silence. There was nothing for her to do but wait. Nothing to look at. To feel. Nowhere to go. Nothing to hear. All she could do was wait. Then,

"Sept...Ber..."

Cassie perked up.

That was new.

"Sept...Em...Ber... Eigh...teen..."

September eighteen. Okay. Good. Great. What about it?

Cassie waited for The Voice to say something, anything, else.

"Help... Me..."

Cassie wished she could feel her hands so she could rip out her hair. "HOW!?" She screamed, though not expecting an answer. "Who are you!? What do you want!?"

"Cassi...opia..."

And then she woke up.

Cassie sighed, feeling no more rested than she did before her nap, and looked out the window of her mom's car. She didn't recognize anything they passed, but she hadn't expected to; Cassie had never been to Long Island before.

She had hoped to get some sleep on their long drive to camp since she had been too excited to get any the night before.

Cassie threw her head back against her seat. _September eighteen. The eighteenth. What does that mean? My gosh-gods._ She shook her head. _Gods_ _._ That was the word she was supposed to use.

 _Gods._ Why couldn't The Voice just say what it needed her to do?

Cassie sighed and reached towards the car's radio. She hoped that there would be better stations at camp than the one her mom had on.

"Oh good, your awake," Ms. Barton said, "We're almost there."

But, of course, when parents say 'almost there' they mean a really-freaking-long-time. The rest of the drive gave Cassie's mood plenty of time to change from groggy and irritated to perked up and excited though.

By the time the turned on the drive marked 3.141 Farm Rd, she was literally on the edge of her seat. She could see it! Thalia's tree! She was really there!

Cassie eyes eagerly scanned everything they passed, looking for something she might recognize. And as they topped the last hill, and the camp's valley lay before her…

Cassie gasped.

Everything was there. Just like in the books! It was amazing. Too amazing. She couldn't believe it. She could see the strawberry fields. The lake. The Big House…

Well, now all she could see was the Big House, since all too soon Cassie's mom had blocked the view by driving the car into one of the parking spots behind the house.

Which was fine by Cassie- before the car was even off she was unbuckled and jumping out of her seat. Cassie gaped up at the giant blue building and took a few mindless steps towards it.

"Don't forget your things," Her mom reminded, focusing back Cassie's attention.

Right. Her stuff.

Within seconds Cassie had gotten her belongings and was hugging them to her chest as she and her mom made their way towards the front steps of the wrap around porch.

No one else seemed to be up there, besides the single girl coming their way. She was maybe a few years older than Cassie, with pretty brown hair pulled back in a high pony tail, but Cassie had no idea who it could be. Not Annabeth. Not Clarisse…

"Hi!" The girl greeted as she approached, "You must be Cassie. And Ms. Barton? I'm Katie." Well, that answered Cassie's question. Katie held out her hand to Ms. Barton in greeting.

Cassie's mom shook it and replied with a friendly, "Hi Katie, nice to meet you."

Katie smiled, "The camp director, should be here any second." She told them, "Do you want me to bring your stuff to your cabin?" Katie gestured at the duffle bag and pillow Cassie was holding.

Cassie shook her head, "Oh, thanks, but that's okay," Or, really, Cassie wasn't up for her mom meeting Mr. D and then changing her mind about camp. Maybe it was best if... "I can carry it." Cassie suggested. Then she could leave and her mom wouldn't possibly be able to change her mind. Cassie looked up at her mom. "Mind if I go?"

"Oh, well," Ms. Barton glanced at Katie, who shrugged unhelpfully, "I guess not..."

Cassie shifted her things and gave her mom an awkward hug. "I'll write a bunch. I love you."

"I love you more."

But her mom wouldn't let go.

Cassie rolled her eyes. She loved her mom, but she was at Camp-Freaking-Half-Blood. She wanted to go see it. And she felt had waited long enough. "Okay, gotta go. Bye mom."

Ms. Barton released her daughter, "Good bye. I love you. Don't forget to write. Tell me everything."

"Of course I will." Cassie stepped back and headed towards the cabins to catch up to Katie. She paused just once for one final, "By mom. Love you."

Katie had set a quick pace towards the edge of the woods where Cassie could just make out the odd assortment of cabins. Even at their distance she thought she could make out which was which.

"We'll have to get back to the big House quick," Katie told her, "Chiron said he wanted you to watch the orientation video before you do anything else."

"Orientation video? Why?" Percy hadn't had to watch an orientation video.

"How much do you know about Camp Half-Blood?" Katie asked instead of answering.

….. _Everything_.…. "Uh, it's a summer camp?" She played dumb, like she was supposed to, "What do you mean?"

Katie hesitated. This wasn't her job, to explain the Greek gods to dumb little kids like Cassie. She shrugged and smiled, "That's why we have the video!"

The two continued onwards. Cassie was content enough with Katie's vague answers, not that she didn't know all about camp, but she was thrilled to just be able to take everything in.

It was all infinitely better than she had imagined. Yet it was still unbelievable. She was actually at Camp Half-Blood! Her! At Camp!

Cassie stared at everything with wide eyes as they made their way down into the valley. There! Those were the volleyball courts! And the kids down there, playing a game, they were all half-bloods! There were more of them too, tons of them; some in the strawberry fields, a few of them walking out of the woods and coming their way, a couple on the dock near the la— well, now just one on the dock. The other had been pushed in. And the archery range! Was that… Chiron? In centaur form? Cassie blinked. Yep. Must be.

"There's a ton of kids here," Cassie observed when she was finally able to peel her eyes away from her former, well, current, teacher.

Katie shrugged. "It's the first real day of summer session. Most kids got here this past weekend. Some have been here longer, if their schools got out earlier."

Cassie didn't try to make more conversation the rest of the way. Mostly because she was too distracted by everything else. And then she saw the cabins. Truly the weirdest collection of buildings Cassie had ever seen. And the one they were walking towards, _ugh_ , Cassie frowned. She could hear the kids inside already.

"So, there might not be too much room in there for you," Katie said apologetically.

Cassie had assumed that. She still didn't like it though. Couldn't they have just built another cabin for all the unclaimed kid? Or Expand it? Add more beds? Anything. She didn't think it would be too hard.

"Hey, Luke!" Katie called when they reached the door. Nobody paid them any attention. Well, except for Luke, who had somehow heard the girl over the noisy campers.

It took him a few moments to meander through the mess, stepping over all the sleeping bags and avoiding the ball flying back and forth across the room, but eventually, he stopped in the doorway.

"Hey Katie," He greeted with a friendly smile, and looked towards Cassie, "And who's this?"

"Cassie." Cassie said.

"And this," Katie introduced, "Is Luke."

Cassie smiled at him and tried not to blush. He _was_ pretty cute, she thought, scar or no scar. She mentally shook her head. _Stop it. Bad guy! Luke's a bad guy! Stop it!_

"Cassie just got here." Katie continued. "Undetermined. She needs a place."

"Welcome to camp, Cassie," Luke grinned as he held out an arm towards the chaos inside, "Cabin eleven is always happy to have new campers."

Luke pivoted to face everyone inside, "Hey! Guys!" He yelled above the noise. Most of them quieted down and gave him their attention. "This is Cassie. Now—"

"Regular or undetermined?" Someone cut him off.

Luke huffed, knowing what was coming next. "Undetermined, but—"

Everyone groaned. And complained. And protested.

"Aww come on, Luke, we just got another this morning!"

"We don't have room for her!"

"Get her a tent or something!"

Cassie frowned. She supposed she hadn't been expecting much else, but still. Rude.

"Cassie we're glad to have you," Luke spoke over them, making it clear to everyone that they _were_ glad to have her. Or at least they would pretend. "You can have that spot over there."

He gestured to a lovely patch of wood below a window.

Katie looked towards the spot with distaste, "Great. But hey, Luke, she's gotta get back to the Big House and watch the orientation video." Katie grimaced as she looked around inside the cabin. "Will you, ah, watch her stuff?"

Luke grinned, "Of course,"

And within moments Cassie and Katie were making the trek back towards the giant blue farmhouse. Cassie's mom wasn't there anymore when they returned. No one was.

"Just try to be quiet while we're in here," Katie advised as they slipped inside, "Mr. D is probably resting. He's cranky enough _without_ us bothering him."

"Mr. D?" Cassie asked like a good little unknowing camper.

"The camp's director. The video explains it all." Katie closed the door to a large room that was some sort of mix between a living room and a movie theater. Cassie sat herself down on one of the many couches as Katie went to turn on a projector.

A minute later, the video ready and Katie quickly turned off the lights and took a seat on the arm of Cassie's couch.

"You may have heard about the Greek gods before," a teenaged boy told the camera as he walked around outside. Cassie guessed he was maybe 15 years old. But that would have been at least 15 years ago. Probably more. The quality was horrible. And he dressed funny.

"Maybe in school, in books, in tv…. But I'm here to tell you," He stopped and paused dramatically. The camera zoomed in on his face "It's all _real_."

Cassie cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Katie. The video seemed pretty lame.

Katie misinterpreted her sardonic look as one of disbelief though. She shrugged back and mothed, _it's true_.

"And just like in the stories, sometimes they interacted with humans. We are their children. _We_ are half-god. And _this,_ " The guy held out his hand and the camera turned to reveal a valley, "Is Camp Half-Blood!"

Dramatic music started blaring and Cassie gave Katie another look.

The boy soon came back on screen and started talking about monsters, and how camp taught half-bloods how to fight them. He told them about all the activities the camp had, the things they would learn about, physically and knowledge-wise. He told them about Chiron, the Camp director. Katie corrected him- told Cassie he was only the 'activities director' now. Whatever that meant.

The boy told them about the chariot races the camp held. Katie corrected him on that too; Said they didn't do them anymore.

He told them about going on quests. Katie grimaced and finally paused the video.

"We don't usually show this anymore," She said. "It's a little outdated."

 _Yeah no joke._

"But it's got the general idea… Your dad is a god."

Katie was probably expecting some sort of disbelief from Cassie. For Cassie to think they were playing some sort of stupid joke on her. Katie waited for the younger girl to say something.

Say _what_ though? Cassie knew it was the truth. But for her to say she believed Katie right away wouldn't be normal, would it?

After a few moments she finally let out a hesitant, "Uh-huh,"

But Katie didn't say anything more. She just shrugged. It didn't really matter if Cassie believed or not; a few days at camp would convince any skeptic of the truth, and Katie didn't like bothering trying to convince them otherwise on their first day.

Before either could say anything else though, a faint sound of a horn cut them off.

"That's the dinner signal." Katie got up, "The dining pavilion is on the other side of camp, we better hurry."

* * *

So... Yeah. Review, please? Even just like a x/10 rating is nice to see. Even if its a 0/10. That's fine too. Any feedback is GREAT.

And if you catch any story errors, please let me know. I'm trying to keep this 100000% canon. Yes, 100000%. Colors of cabins, distances, capitalization of places at camp, whatever. Let me know.

And like I said. Next 2 chapters are 100% done. I don't think I'll give a date estimate for its upload, since I know I'll miss it... But just know they're done, and they're coming.

Thanks. A ton. A _ton._


	5. Chapter 5

Look! Only 2 ½ weeks instead of 2 ½+ months! Notes at the end. Thanks for making it this far :)

* * *

Cassie hadn't noticed she was hungry until she heard the signal for dinner. She eagerly started following Katie out of the Big House but paused at the view before her.

Just as before, it was incredible to take in. It was everything she imagined, and more. And she was now a part of it.

But her feeling of awe turned more towards dread as she saw the dining pavilion on the opposite side of the valley. The exact opposite side.

It was a big valley.

Cassie's shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh as they began their trek.

Their walk left plenty of time for Katie to explain how the meals and the tables worked. In a nutshell, she said, you walk with their cabin to the pavilion in a line based on seniority, sit with your cabin, tell your glass whatever you want to drink, and throw some of your food into the fire for the gods.

Cassie made sure to act the part of naïve new camper and asked follow up questions when appropriate.

Almost everyone had taken their seats by the time they arrived.

Cassie easily located her own table; long wooden benches on each side of a table covered by a white tablecloth (which Cassie thought was pretty stupid. It must get so dirty) surrounded by dozens of kids; Easily identifiable as cabin eleven by how incredibly uncomfortable and overcrowded it looked.

Still, she eagerly made her way over after spotting Percy.

Cassie squeezed onto the few inches of empty bench across from him.

Percy froze when he saw her. He blinked once, twice, then asked, "Cassie?"

"Hey Percy," She said nonchalantly, looking around at all the other campers in the pavilion.

He sputtered for a second, "Wha- when- how are-… What are you doing here?"

Cassie shrugged and answered simply, "Apparently my dad is a god,"

He stared for another moment in shock, but before he could stutter anything else Chiron stomped his hoof.

Everyone shut up and looked to him.

Chiron raised his glass. "To the gods!"

"To the gods!" Everyone echoed.

Immediately nymphs (Katie had told her they were nymphs) started pouring in with trays of food. The new activity in the pavilion momentarily distracted the two new campers.

Cassie, wide eyed in excitement, piled her plate high as the platters were passed around. She had loaded the strawberries onto her plate to the point where they were starting to roll off and was trying to balance a few slices of bread on top when she overheard Luke tell Percy to speak to his glass.

Cassie beamed as she continued managing her plate. _Just like the books._

When Percy amended his request to "Blue Cherry Coke." She couldn't help but give his glass a side eye, imagining the amount of colorings in that glass to get the dirty brown drink to change to a blue. It didn't look very appealing to Cassie, but she just shrugged, and passed on the platter of brisket that had just been handed to her before getting up to join the crowds headed towards the brazier in the center of the pavilion.

 _But who do I give it to?_ It dawned on Cassie that she didn't know whose name to say when she dumped part of her perfectly good food into the fire. Her mind went blank as she quickly approached the fire.

 _Who do I give it to! Dionysus? Zeus? Dionysus, yeah no way. And Zeus doesn't deserve it._ She briefly panicked, not knowing what to do, when she quickly reached the front of the line.

The words suddenly sprang to her lips, "For my father," she said, relieved that it was over with. She could think of a more elegant offering some other day.

Cassie didn't know what she was expecting as she stared into the brazier, but nothing interesting happened so she quickly turned away and went to sit back down.

Percy returned as well a couple moments later and wasted no time starting Cassie's interrogation.

"Wait, so you're a demigod too? Since when? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Um, yeah, since birth? I guess." She briefly wondered if she _was_ one since birth. "I was only told today."

"Oh," Percy said. "Me too."

They went on talking throughout their dinner about how crazy it all seemed, how before that day they had no idea this whole other world existed. Percy mentioned he wished that it didn't.

Cassie, unthinking, asked in surprise, "Why?"

Percy looked down at his now empty plate. "My mom…"

He explained what happened with the Minotaur.

Cassie shifted, completely uncomfortable and unsure of what to say.

Thankfully, before she had a chance to offer her empty condolences, Chiron pounded his hoof again to get all of their attention.

Mr. D let out an enormous sigh and stood up, "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all of you brats. Well, hello." He lolled his head to the side to give an exasperated gaze to Chiron, who nodded approvingly.

 _Approvingly?_

"Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A roaring cheer rose from the Ares table.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, " I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson." Chiron corrected him quietly, "Er, Percy Jackson. That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire." He shoo-ed them with his hands. "Go on."

Everyone cheered and quickly started making their way to the amphitheater.

Cassie frowned as she got up and complained, to no one in particular, "He totally forgot to say my name."

"Get used to it," Some blond kid from her cabin told her casually, "Been here four years and he still doesn't know my name."

"He's just pretending," Luke consoled, and spoke to both campers, "Give the guy a break. The god of wine doesn't want to be stuck at a summer camp with a bunch of underage kids. You'd be moody too."

Cassie was sure she would be. Camp was a punishment for Mr. D, after all. It would be weird if he enjoyed it.

She shrugged it off; she didn't really actually care that he forgot to mention her. And she could see where he was coming from, she guessed, so Cassie forgot about it and cheerily headed towards the campfire.

It had been a great day, after all.

She had gotten to camp, met Katie, had an amazing dinner, and now she would sing songs and get to eat pounds of graham crackers.

Camp was great, she decided.

* * *

Or, at least parts of camp were great. Because of going to Yancy, Cassie had gotten used to sleeping in a room full of other people. But Cabin 11 was pretty different. There were about 30 kids in it, and thankfully a lot of them were older; more mature. Quiet. But there were a ton who weren't.

And when it was their cabin's turn for showers? Horrible. And the chores were horrible too. Cassie would have thought that with 30-some people, it would take no time at all for them to finish their jobs. It would be quick. Easy.

Not so.

Apparently, at least in cabin eleven, only the new campers had to do work.

"It gets too crowded otherwise" One of the Stoll brothers told her as he lazily sat in bed.

And that sort of made sense to Cassie; That day they were cleaning the practice equipment at the sword fighting arena. It would be pretty packed if all of them tried to fit into the equipment room.

"Once you've been here as long as us," Another girl, Alex, Cassie thought her name was, added as Cassie was leaving to follow the other newbies to the arena, "you've done your share of work. We've earned this. When you've been here a couple years you won't have to do them anymore either. Fair trade off."

That made sense to Cassie too so she ran off to join the others. She would be late to her Ancient Greek lesson if their chores took too long.

Which Cassie soon learned she would be happy to be late to. Malcolm was her instructor… Cassie wasn't his biggest fan.

He seemed way too sensitive and wasn't a very good teacher. At all. He didn't seem to understand that not everyone liked learning as much as he and his siblings did.

So she told him that; "This is boring."

And so he told her Ancient Greek was a super cool language and listed all the reasons why it was important to learn. Kidding. Actually, he said, "I don't care."

Cassie sat back, frustrated, and crossed her arms. "Why are we learning this?"

"Your father is a Greek god. This is important." Malcolm didn't try to hide his condescending tone.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "And if he moved to America with all the other Olympians I'm sure he learned English."

Malcolm frowned. He wasn't very tolerant of disrespect but he tried to remain calm with the new camper. "But it's easy for you to read Ancient Greek, right? Or, at least easier than English. I know it's only your first day with this, but can't you see that this is what your brain is wired to read?"

Cassie shook her head. She never liked language arts in school. "I don't like reading." She told him, and looked back at the alphabet of foreign letters Malcolm had given her. Theta, Delta, Sigma, Pi…. "Or math."

"Well, you have to learn it." He deadpanned unimpressed. When Cassie rolled her eyes he clenched his jaw. "This isn't just a summer camp; you can't just do what you want here. We have to train and learn this stuff too."

Cassie huffed and held out her hands, exasperated, "Exactly! Train! To fight monsters! Why would I ever, ever, need to speak or read Ancient Greek to survive out there?" She asked angrily, yet seriously.

Malcolm threw his hands up. "Gods! I'm not doing this again." He stood up quickly. "Fine, whatever, do what you want." He fumed before storming away.

Cassie blinked dumbly as he left. _That was… Sudden_ , she thought. She shook her head after a moment and gathered her things in a pile. Or rather, the two sheets of paper Malcolm had given her. She then started heading back to her cabin, but not before spotting a trash bin not far off.

 _Well if Malcolm's serious_ …. Cassie happily headed to the bin first and disposed of her notes before merrily continuing on her way.

And so Cassie's Ancient Greek lessons quickly came to an end.

The rest of the activities she had been going to had been great though, like arts and crafts (just as stupid as Ancient Greek in her opinion, but at least enjoyable), canoeing (which was fun, as long as she was in the front and could paddle sloppily enough to 'accidentally' splash the person in the back), rock climbing (which she had been too chicken to try yet, but it was cool to watch), and archery (which she liked– it was much easier to kill monsters with a bow from hundreds of feet away when they couldn't touch you, rather than to let them get close enough to cut off your head. Plus she was pretty decent at it).

She also liked archery because their first lesson Percy almost shot Chiron. He _did_ shoot Chiron. Kind of. Percy's aim wasn't actually that bad, but like the centaur had told them; if you draw the bowstring, it better be aimed at the target. Not at your teacher, where you might accidentally let go of the string. _Duh_.

Overall, she was really enjoying camp. It was almost like a regular old summer camp, if you ignored that most activities were there to help you kill monsters. But somehow it was pretty relaxing since, almost ironically, her busy schedule left her little time to worry about anything else. Like her deadline, for… whatever it was. She had almost forgotten about it– the Voice had left her alone since arriving at camp.

That wasn't a concerning length of absence, even thought it was longer than normal for it to not bother her. But it was already June 9th, and she still had no idea what she was supposed to do.

But, again, she never could worry too much about anything with her busy schedule since as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she was interrupted.

Like just then-

"Cassie, let's get you a sword," Luke called her over to a hut filled with dozens and dozens of swords, shields, and more.

She quickly went to him and stopped in the doorway, staring wide eyed at all of the different shapes and styles of the weapons. Who knew you could have 50 swords and no two of them would look the same?

"Let's start you off with something light, until you build some muscle," He held out a bronze-colored blade, a little under three feet long.

Cassie held it delicately, though she noted that the blade was extremely blunt.

"We keep the practice blades dull," Luke explained, noticing her lingering look, "For… Obvious reasons. Once you get your own you'll need to keep it sharp and taken care of."

Cassie twirled it in her hand, getting a feel for the weight. She didn't know what it should feel like, but it didn't feel unmanageable, "Seems fine… I think?"

Luke nodded and moved on to where he was needed; Percy wasn't having as much luck with his.

"Try holding it closer to the hilt," Luke suggested to the him.

"It feels weird when I do,"

Luke fixed the 'feels weird' problem by getting him a new sword. Which was too long, apparently. And the next, too heavy. And apparently the next was created by an idiot who put all of the sword's weight in the tip, so Percy couldn't use that one either.

Cassie sympathized with the irritated look on Luke's face every time he went past her to get a different sword.

Percy had gone through well over a half dozen swords when he asked, "Is it supposed to be this light?"

Cassie and Luke were both reaching the end of their patience, and the later not so subtly rolled his neck and suggested, "Maybe these ones aren't for you. Why don't we just start with this one and try some more out later?"

Luckily for them, Percy seemed to think that was a decent enough idea so Luke quickly handed each of the new campers light practice shields (he didn't let either of them try out any other shields, for some reason), and they all went out into the arena where everyone else was warming up.

Luke started the two newbies off with some basics, showing them how to hold their swords right and how to stab and slice at people. Unsurprisingly, doing those moves on an unmoving straw dummy wasn't too complicated, so Luke soon moved everybody on to dueling.

"Percy can be my partner, since it's his first time" he announced, and Cassie could swear she detected underlying malicious intent. Surely Luke didn't want to deal with Percy and his whiny complaints about swords again. And surely there was no way he had forgotten that it was Cassie's first time too.

Not that it mattered, someone else quickly volunteered to be her partner.

"Cassie, right?" A huge Hispanic-looking teenager came towards her. The guy had biceps the size of footballs and was almost a foot taller than Cassie. And she wasn't exactly short…. For her age, at least.

She nodded hesitantly. _Please don't say I'll be dueling you._ She would be dead in a second!

"Need a partner?"

 _Crap._ "…Yeah."

He gave a friendly smile, "I'm Chris,"

Cassie canted her head. _Rodriguez?_ She knew the name, but couldn't quite place it _. Isn't he the one who went crazy in the Labyrinth? And then… Something about going out with Clarisse? Or… No, that was someone else, wasn't it? Ethan Naka- Nakamura?_ Cassie waved it off, deciding it didn't matter for the moment, and greeted her partner.

"We'll let's get to it, show me your stance." Chris instructed.

Awkwardly and slowly, Cassie held up her shield so that the top came to her shoulder. She turned a few degrees to the right to put herself at a slight angle to Chris, and held up her sword.

Cassie paused sheepishly, knowing she must look silly.

"Great, you have a good grip, not too tight, not too loose. Try to keep your weight on the balls of your feet though, and bend your knees."

Cassie did as she was told, so she was in an almost-crouch.

"Mmm, little less. Think of a cowboy walk… Yeah, just like that."

Cassie smiled. She was holding a sword and shield, a real swordfighter, how cool was she?

Well, at least Cassie thought she was pretty cool.

Chris patiently gave her a few more quick adjustments before he showed her the basic attacks and defenses, doing everything at a relatively slow speed to make sure she didn't develop any bad habits from the start.

Chris stepped forward and slowly swung his sword down towards her right arm. It wasn't worth blocking with the shield, since it was on her right side, so she brought up her hand above her head and blocked his attack with her sword.

Chris wasn't attacking as fast as he could; they were only practicing, and it was Cassie's first day. But that still didn't mean that the impact of their swords clashing didn't send a shock up her arm. _Oww._

"Remember," Chris reminded her, "Block the higher attacks with your sword pointed up. 'Else you might get your fingers cut off."

Cassie nodded. She knew that. Chris had told her that. Stupid mistake.

They managed to do the move once more before Luke called for a break.

"So how'd I do?" Cassie asked Chris semi-jokingly as they made their way to the water coolers.

Chris hesitated.

It was a long pause.

Cassie's smile fell. She had thought Chris was an awesome teacher, patient and giving compliments all the time when she did something right. _Way to be supportive now._

"It _was_ your first day," He finally said.

Cassie's mouth made the final shift into a frown. "Wow, thanks," She said a bit sardonically, and flippantly added, "At least we can cross out my father being the god of swords, I guess."

"Umm… Yeah…"

Cassie shifted, not sure if Chris was being weird because maybe she was a much worse swordsman than she thought, or because her joke fell short.

"Well," She said in case it was the later, "I guess it is easier to wait until I get claimed anyways. Won't do any good if I _guess_ who my father is. I'm still stuck in the Hermes cabin." Cassie winced with each word that came out of her mouth, but was unable to stop herself.

She bit the inside of her cheek and tried to look anywhere but Chris. _Shoot. Shoot shoot shoot. Way to screw it up, Cassie._

Stiffly, she reached for a water cup and filled it. She wasn't very thirsty, but she had to do something so she wasn't awkwardly standing around next to Chris.

"Yeah, well," She heard him say softly, "You may want to get used to it…"

* * *

I don't think I'll ever be happy with these chapters. I literally have to look away in embarrassment sometimes when editing them (especially the early versions). Thankfully the wonderful beta TheSockThatEndedUpInNarnia helps make it a _lot_ better than they would be.

And hey, guest reviewer of chapter 4, I so wish you had been logged in because I would love to follow up on some things you said. Or use subtly use some those points.

So while I may have the next one/two chapters done, I'd rather keep this rough schedule of uploading every two weeks, instead of releasing a bunch now then having a couple month hiatus again. Sound okay? Cool.

And leave a review! Please! Critique! Flame! x/10 rating! Anything!

But even if you don't, thanks so much for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

Screw it, its short and bad but if I work on it more it won't be up for months I'm sure.

* * *

Cassie looked at her shoes as she prayed for an end to the awkwardness. Why did she have to open her mouth? She knew being claimed would be a sore subject for some campers. Especially in her cabin. And really, it should be a little bit of an uncomfortable subject for her too- no one had claimed her yet either.

Not that she didn't wish her father would….

"Alright, everybody gather around" Luke suddenly called out.

Like a switch, Cassie was alert and cheerful again. Because of course, this was, yet again, _it_.

 _This is it!_

Cassie hurried to the front of the crowd as Luke called Percy forward.

It briefly crossed her mind that Luke seemed to be enjoying using Percy as a pin cushion that lesson. She had the pair earlier and the older camper clearly hadn't been going easy on the newbie. And Percy was drenched. Eww. Cassie hoped that was more than just sweat. Was he really that out of shape?

"We're going to practice a simple disarming technique today" Luke started speaking, instantly gaining Cassie's full attention. "For those of you who haven't done this before, or forgot since last summer, remember, it's simple, but effective, when you don't have a shield to use as well." He explained how you start with the sword on the inside of your opponent's sword, then step closer and bring your own up almost vertical.

"While still touching their blade, wrap your sword around your opponent, yes," He stressed, "This is possible. Point the tip down towards the outside, you have to do it suddenly, then slide your sword down and jerk your sword in towards you. This part has to be quick, or else it won't work.

"This is difficult; I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."

Someone snorted, and a guy near Cassie chuckled. The camper next to her, Connor, or maybe Travis, she wasn't sure, leaned over and explained quietly, "It's the easiest disarming technique there is. You'll have it down by the end of the day."

Cassie nodded, now understanding that Luke was joking.

Percy had joined him and they started demonstrating the technique. Even in slow motion, and with Percy expecting every move, he dropped his sword.

"Now in real time." Luke said. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"

Percy nodded, ready, and Luke lunged. He stabbed at Percy. Percy, instead of blocking, sidestepped and tried an attack of his own.

He made a swipe for Luke's side, which Luke blocked easily. Luke's eyes narrowed after Percy's strike.

Not threateningly though. More like a cat, toying with its food. Luke swung at Percy again, and again, and again. All of his attacks looked simple enough to Cassie; straight forward sideswipes, and Percy blocked each of them relatively easily.

But on Luke's fourth swing, Percy's block changed. He tried the disarming maneuver. Without any hesitation, he stepped forward twisted his blade to point downwards on the outside of Luke's sword, just like they were shown.

 _Clang._

Luke's sword clattered onto the ground. He stared at his empty hand in shock.

Everyone was silent.

"Umm, sorry?" Percy lowered his sword.

Luke blinked, still in slight disbelief. Cassie couldn't blame him. Luke was the best swordsman at camp and Percy had disarmed him during his first sword lesson ever. But slowly, Luke's face broke into a grin, "Sorry? By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"

Though, Cassie wondered how excited for Percy he could really be. It was embarrassing, getting beat like that. Cassie had a (big) suspicion that Luke told Percy to do the maneuver again only so Luke could rightfully whip his butt.

Which he did.

Cassie held back her smirk as Percy fumbled to retrieve his weapon.

"Beginner's luck?" Someone said after a few moments.

Luke dropped the point of his sword in the ground and rested his hands on it. He canted his head ever so slightly and glanced at Percy. "Maybe…" He considered the younger camper for a moment. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword…"

Cassie instantly rolled her eyes, remembering his earlier ordeal at the weapon's shed. She knew Riptide would be perfect for him, but at the moment it didn't seem like a 'balanced sword' even existed for the guy.

Cassie and Chris, who had both for the most part forgotten about Cassie's unthoughtful ramblings, paired up again to practice the disarming technique for a bit. Even though it was only Cassie's first lesson, she could tell she wasn't a natural. Or even very good. Or, even slightly competent, if she was being honest with herself.

She did have a lot of fun though, and she enjoyed the lesson enough; Chris was a great teacher; but she could tell swords weren't for her.

Neither was wrestling, she discovered. Cassie hated that class. Hated getting all gross and sweaty and having to grab other gross and sweaty people.

She did like seeing Percy getting pummeled though. She thought that was kind of funny.

Cassie had planned it out though, and had so far been able to avoid getting beaten up in the class.

She had made sure to compliment Clarisse the first few times she saw the bigger girl— 'Wow is that your spear!? Its electric!? Awesome!', 'Your dad is Ares? Oh wow, I hope my dad turns out to be someone as cool as him', 'Ugh I hate that Percy kid'; it seemed to do the trick.

Clarisse didn't seem to hate her guts. She maybe even thought that Cassie was a sort of charming admirer. And since Clarisse was the head of the cabin, the others did what she did.

Everyone ignored Cassie. It was very nice.

Overall, Cassie's first week was going really well. She was in a 'honeymoon' period. Everything about the camp was new and exciting. She was loving it all. Loving all the new things, the new campers, even the new threat of monsters. She didn't have time to worry about anything else.

Until that Saturday, at least. Friday was her last worry-free day.

Because how could it not be worry-free?

Everyone was pumped for the first capture the flag game of the summer. Bets were being waged, magic items readied, weapons being sharpened and armor getting polished.

Cassie herself wasn't overly excited about the game— it was significantly less exciting when you knew how everything would play out and what the outcome would be. And she _was_ excited about… Certain parts…

But the energy of the camp was contagious.

"Eat up Cassie!" Luke patted her on the back as he sat back down at the Hermes' table for dinner, "You'll need your strength for tonight!"

Connor (she thought) leaned forward and shook his head, a grin on his face, "Naw, man, this'll be a cinch,"

Cassie had to appreciate his confidence. Not that it was misplaced, she knew what the outcome would be, but even knowing that she couldn't help but be a bit nervous.

She could picture it now. The game starting, battle cries with everyone running towards the other's flag during the first charge. She would be following, somewhere in the crowd, not really knowing what was going on, but joining in the attack anyways. Her sword would be held clumsily, her shield more in the way than it was worth.

She would fall behind relatively quickly; she was fast, but not in nearly as good shape as the other campers. Their team would quickly meet opposition. Swords and shields clashing, the sharp sound of metal on metal along with grunts and shouts from the campers. Cassie wouldn't have a clue what to do.

Keep going towards the flag? Find the nearest enemy and attack them? Pff, she thought. Like that would work. She wouldn't run up to them— she wasn't confident or aggressive enough for that. And if she did, she would get skewered instantly. A shish-kebab. Either her or the other person. Not that she had any confidence in her abilities after her single sword fighting lesson, but she also knew she didn't have the ability to control her sword well enough to prevent hurting the other guy.

Yeah, it would go horribly.

She dropped her head into her hands and groaned.

"Aww," Connor laughed, "What's the matter Cassie, not excited?"

"I'm going to be killed." She deadpanned.

He gave a short chuckle again. "Don't worry, I hear they have you on defense. You won't see any action. We'll get that flag long before they can make it to you."

Cassie didn't pay his cockiness any attention.

Quicker than she ever wanted, but somehow also not quickly enough (Cassie was still very excited to see Percy get claimed), it was time.

Someone directed Cassie to the other guard she would be with, Travis, it turned out, and she followed him deep into the forest.

Travis was instructed to place the flag up in a tree and, after a bit of wandering, he found a nice climbable one and headed up. Cassie watched as he awkwardly juggled the flag in one hand while trying to climb a reasonable way up. Just as he laid it between two branches so the banner was hanging down, visible, as the rules required, the conch horn sounded.

The game began.

"Keep your eyes peeled for any scouts," Travis instructed as he climbed down, though Cassie was obviously already doing just that. She was on guard duty— it wasn't too complicated.

Cassie had seen Annabeth lead Percy in the opposite direction and was only slightly disappointed that she had no chance of seeing him.

"Not that the game should last long enough that we'll even be needed." He finished.

Cassie figured he hadn't meant to make her feel useless, but she had to admit she'd probably be more of a burden than a help if she was more involved anyways. Still, she pretended her job was important and stood at the ready, sword and shield in front of her chest like she was taught. Her eyes scanned the woods, never lingering in one spot, just waiting for an enemy to show themselves.

The chirping birds and occasional shuffling of leaves from scurrying squirrels didn't seem to fit the mood of the game.

Cassie and her partner waited, focused and silent; attentive. She knew they probably wouldn't be needed, but she was taking her job seriously— if they were the reason their team lost the first game of the summer….

It was the first time Cassie wondered if they _could_ lose the game. Could she actually change anything? She had pondered over what she _would_ change if she could, but had never considered if it would actually work. It had already been written. But how much did her being there affect the story?

Something flashed in the corner of Cassie's vision, cutting off any other thoughts she might have had. She froze.

So did the enemy. About 50 yards of her, the girl with a red plume sticking out of her helmet stared. Not at Cassie, but behind her, at the huge tree; at the flag.

"There!" She called to Travis, not bothering to be quiet since the enemy scout had already seen them.

The scout took off, sprinting, making an arc around their defense to get back towards her side.

Cassie didn't move, not sure if she was supposed to give chase or stay where she was told.

She turned to Travis for instruction.

"Get him!"

Cassie, not thinking it through, not sure how she was supposed to get her, or what she was supposed to do when (if) she did, dropped her shield (since it was super heavy and weighing her down) and dashed after the scout.

Cassie was fast, and had gained some ground on the other girl, but she didn't yet have the stamina to keep up for long. She quickly realized she wasn't going to be able to catch the other camper.

If she had taken the time to think it through, Cassie never would have done it. But nonetheless, the second the idea had crossed her mind she went for it. Within a single moment, Cassie had stopped, yanked off her shoe, and hurled it the girl.

In a moment of clarity as her shoe hurled towards the scout, a feeling of embarrassment and regret washed through her. And then, amazement.

A perfect shot- it had hit the scout right on the head.

The girl let out a startled cry as she stumbled and fell to the ground.

Cassie stared in shock. _It worked!?_

It had worked! And then the feeling of embarrassment and regret came back. "Oh gosh!" Cassie exclaimed, and ran towards the girl, hoping she hadn't actually hurt her. "Are you okay!? I'm sorry! I'm sorry, are you okay?"

Cassie recognized the girl as Katie as she came next to her to try and examine the wound; there was dirt, and maybe the slightest bit of red from it scraping away skin, but it didn't look bad.

"I'm so sorry!" She continued to apologize, but Katie just started to laugh.

 _Laugh?_

Cassie blinked.

"Cassie, it's a game," Katie smiled as she got to her feet, "You're supposed to try and win."

Katie opened her mouth to continue, her face twisting with a sinister smirk making Cassie take the slightest of cautious steps backwards, when they heard the elated screams and cheers racing towards them.

Cassie looked past Katie to see Luke sprinting with the red team's banner towards them. He was closely followed by about a dozen other members on the blue team who were fighting off any last attempts for the other team to take back the banner.

Katie's shoulders fell as she saw the scene as well and she sighed, understanding that the game was over. The two girls started making their way towards the creek as Luke ran the final few feet, crossing back into his own team's territory.

Everyone on the blue team exploded into cheers as all the campers started to converge on the creek.

Everyone besides Cassie, who had started to look for the only two members of her team not there celebrating; Percy and Annabeth.

She noticed Chiron cantering towards the group and blowing his conch horn the same time she spotted them. There, a couple dozen yards away, she saw Annabeth gesturing towards Percy.

Cassie started making her way past the celebrating crowd to head towards the two.

"Great game, huh Cassie?" Conner caught her as she strode past, "See, what'd I tell yeah? Piece of cake."

She smiled, nodded, and mumbled something in agreement, but he was gone before she had finished.

Up ahead she saw Percy stumble and almost collapse as he stepped out of the creek. Cassie sped up instinctively to make sure he was okay, but before she had made it a few yards, she froze.

Everyone froze.

A thunderous growl had ripped through the forest.

All interest Cassie had in getting closer to Percy vanished.

She wasn't afraid of dogs, and was actually stupidly unafraid of angry dogs as well. But _this_ …. The hellhound was huge! It wasn't some fluffy bear-looking dog that some breeds managed to pull off either.

It was a thousand pounds of pure terror.

And it was glaring right at Percy.

Cassie knew what happened next. She even heard Chiron call everyone to stand ready. But she just couldn't believe Percy wouldn't be a dead man within seconds.

The monster was terrifying! Cassie couldn't breathe. It would kill Percy- It would hardly take a full bite to remove his head. It would get Annabeth too. And then, since she was only yards away, it would come for her.

She was dead.

And then it lunged.

At Percy. Not Cassie, who was later ashamed to realize how relieved she was that it had gone after him instead of noticing her.

Before she even had time to think about spinning around and running away though, the beast was dead, a dozen arrows sprouting from its neck. Chiron trotted up to it, looking more serious than Cassie had ever seen him before.

" _Di immortales!_ " Annabeth exclaimed, "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't…. They're not supposed to…" She trailed off just as Luke came up next to them.

In the short silence, Clarisse, upset and embarrassed about being tricked and beaten, yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, _child_ " Chiron snapped.

Nobody spoke for a moment as the hellhounds body dissolved into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

The rest of them were still too shocked to speak as Annabeth spoke up, "You're wounded. Quick, Percy, get in the water."

Cassie hardly computed what was happening with Percy's upcoming healing and turned to look at the rest of the campers just behind her. None looked very happy with this new situation. Shocked, displeased, angry. But she knew at least one of the campers understood what was going on then.

Alex, one of the closest to her, was frowning slightly, her eyebrows pulled ever so closer together in thought. Then, as Annabeth insisted again to Percy that he get in the creek, instantly her face fell in dread.

Cassie turned back to see Percy take a few heavy steps until his feet were back in the water.

And there it was, a little green hologram spinning above his head.

Some of the campers gasped. Others cursed. Percy tried to apologize.

Chiron didn't say anything, his expression guarded.

"This is _really_ not good…." Annabeth murmured.

Then Chiron drew back his shoulders and announced in a short, yet neutral voice, "It is determined."

Cassie knew to kneel at this part.

Percy seemed to have _no_ idea what was going on. He was still swiveling around, somehow unable to connect how he healed in water, or the trident above his head, or that he had just been claimed.

"My father?" He asked completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," Chiron explained grimly, "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

* * *

Ta-da.

Or, I shouldn't be ta-da-ing, this story is crap. Please tell me what you don't like about it for future improvements… Or else I'll get (more) uninterested in it and lazy and not bother making any part of it nice.

So, after a period of 0 interest in this story, I figured out where its going and the rest of the plot. Apparently, it's a lot easier (or really, quicker) to write when you know where your story is going.

Thanks for reading.


	7. Chapter 7

The voice had been talking to Cassie almost nightly at this point. Mostly just the same few phrases, but they were more frequent and more audible nonetheless. But this time the voice was finally feeling chatty. Or, more chatty than usual.

"Cassiopia"

"Hey, Voice" She said, uninterested. It didn't answer for a while.

"Free me"

"Yep, find you, free you, help you, September eighteenth. You got it."

The voice didn't 'get it', of course, which irritated Cassie immensely. She actually had time to complete the mission… Whatever 'the mission' was. Almost three months. Not the 'few days' deadlines she had been used to reading about Percy Jackson. Three months! Plenty of time! Except she had no leads. No idea what the voice needed, no idea where it was, no idea who it was …

"Who are you again?"

She got no reply, but she wasn't expecting one.

"And where are you?"

Cassie had asked these questions at least a few dozen times before, without response. But this time, after some minutes, a faint answer, "Chaos"

What!? WHAT. "You're Chaos!?" She asked eagerly (she assumed he was answering the 'who' because as far as she was aware, Chaos wasn't a place. Not that she was aware of a being called 'Chaos', but there were stranger names out there). Cassie had never heard of a god, or she guessed he could be a titan, named Chaos. But she knew what 'chaos' was in English and it sure didn't fill her with feelings of bubbly excitement. Not like if he had said he was "Flower" or something… Because… What if it was a monster talking to her?

Suddenly worried she was talking to something just as or even more evil than Kronos, Cassie hesitantly continued, asking not for the first time, "Uhh… Why am I freeing you?"

"Free me"

Cassie clenched her jaw. Or she would have if she could feel her jaw being clenched.

'Free me'. Likely story; she was just going to go off and free something named "Chaos". Maybe before she would have, back when he hadn't called himself 'mayhem'. Turmoil. Literally chaos.

"Yeah. Well, how? And _why_? Who are you, and where are you even trapped!?" Not that she couldn't imagine up a few situations for the 'why' that would end up with Chaos being imprisoned forever.

A slow response again, "Chaos."

* * *

Cassie's eyes opened and she immediately swung her fist in anger. It was partly in frustration at the always-unhelpful answers, and partly because every time she dreamed about the voice she never felt rested.

Her first hit the floor with a loud thud, and it actually kind of hurt (it really hurt for a few moments, actually), but she didn't let it show.

"Real helpful Mr. Chaos" She mumbled as she dragged her hands down her face to wake up.

Percy, who was sitting with his knees pulled to his chest seemingly deep in thought, was the only one who had noticed her, and he gave her the slightest of looks, but he didn't say anything. He didn't say anything to anyone the rest of the morning.

Cassie had known all along whom Percy's father was, but the awkwardness and tension in the cabin over the reveal was affecting her too. Every conversation somehow seemed to lead to 'Well, great, Poseidon broke the oath and now we're facing the apocalypse'.

She would have offered to help Percy move out, but when she saw him put his few belongings in a single backpack and sleeping bag, she realized that it wouldn't be needed.

He left early, but the tension took a while to dissipate.

Almost immediately after he stepped out the door, people started talking about him.

Not that they hadn't been talking about him while he was still there, it was just that now they were louder and more open about it. A few of the campers went together up to Luke who was sitting on the edge of his bed (near Cassie's spot so she overheard everything), and one of them told him that they didn't want to join the sword practices anymore if Percy would still be training cabin eleven. Bad luck, they reasoned; didn't want to be in the blast zone if some god decided to zap Percy. When another camper nearby overheard an voiced her agreement, Luke gave in.

Cassie didn't miss the slight tightness in his jaw as the group left.

And then Cassie hesitated. She was there for a reason, right? Why would she be in the Percy Jackson story, with knowledge of what was to happen, and not be meant to change something? Luke was a 'bad guy'. Maybe she could stop that.

Too bad she had no clue what to say.

"Poor Percy", she started hesitantly. "Must be really hard for him, to have all this thrown at him."

Luke looked away. "It must be..." She almost thought he sounded sincere. "The gods broke their oath. They could have prevented…" he trailed off.

"Could have prevented?" Prevented Percy from getting attacked by the Hellhound? The minotaur? From growing up with a poor single mother? "Like as in interfere? Aren't their laws against that?" Cassie tried to remind him, to make him see there was no other way. To see that Poseidon, that any of the gods, didn't want Percy or any of them to suffer or deal with all their hardships and responsibilities that came from having godly heritage.

"Cassie," His intense look held her gaze, "Do you know the consequences for gods interfering in our lives?"

She didn't, actually. He could tell.

"Exactly. It's just a made-up rule. In the ancient times, the gods were constantly involved with their children. Achilles and Thetis? And Heracles? Athena practically _raised_ him. Perseus and Zeus? Even Dionysus!" He stood up and took a step to be right in front of her and lowered his voice; people had started staring.

"Cassie, they'll tell you there some 'divine law', that the 'universe will be thrown into Chaos'. It's a lie, Cassie. The gods don't interfere with us because they don't care."

Chaos! Distracted by that name being thrown out, Cassie was unable to think of anything to respond with.

Luke sighed, and Cassie blinked as he went to search for something in his trunk before walking out. Oh, how she wanted so much to ask about Chaos, but she also knew it was the completely wrong time.

She turned to the camper nearest to her, Alex, for help, but Alex just bit her lip and hurried out the door after Luke.

Well... So much for bringing Luke to the 'side of good'.

She almost rolled her eyes. Now what was she supposed to do?

Since 'reasonable mediator' was clearly not her forte and helping Luke, at least at the moment, was useless, her first thought was to go find Malcolm. Malcolm was her assigned teacher of all things Greek. Until, of course, he had stormed out on her…

But Annabeth. Annabeth might help. Activities wouldn't start for another half hour since they got to sleep in on Saturdays, so she would, hopefully, be free.

Cassie started towards the Athena cabin and almost found it cute how when she got there Annabeth was brooding just outside the door, staring at nothing in particular across the valley and muttering bitterly, "Dirty rotten… Gotta get a quest…"

"Hey Annabeth," Annabeth looked to her, startled. "Got a second?"

The grey eyed girl took a second to clear her head and focus her thoughts, and then nodded.

"I have a question about a god."

"Okay, which one?"

Cassie hesitated, somewhat unsure if she should even be asking, or if it was one of those taboo names like 'Kronos' that you just didn't talk about. "Well, it may be a titan, I guess, but… 'Chaos'."

Annabeth furrowed her brows, "Chaos?"

"Yeah, just, anything about him"

Annabeth pulled out the baseball cap that had been tucked in her back pocket and started fidgeting with it, which Cassie didn't take as a great sign. "Well, Chaos isn't really a 'him'. It's not a being, technically," She explained. "In some stories Chaos is sort of the father of the primordials, but it's not quite a god or titan. It's more of a thing. A nothingness."

"A nothingness?" A nothingness! That explained exactly what Cassie experienced in her dreams so perfectly that she couldn't keep the excitement from her voice at finally getting some answers.

"Yeah, like a void."

"A god of the void."

"Not quite, like I said, Chaos isn't a being."

What? No, he had to be. He was clearly talking to her.

"At least, I've never heard any stories about… 'him'... Just picture outer space." She tried a different approach, "It's a nothing. Empty. Well, not that space is empty. At all. It's actually quite full when you think about it; nebulae, solar winds, quasars," Annabeth continued listing more things, but Cassie ignored them. She was stuck. Again. Back to square one. Chaos _wasn't_ a god? He wasn't the one talking to her? What the heck!? So… It was a place then? That's where The Voice was? It was trapped _in_ Chaos…?

"Yeah, that makes sense!" Cassie cut the other girl off. "But then, what lives there?"

"Nothing. It's a void. It is _nothing_." Annabeth said slowly, repeating the fact again.

But what Annabeth had described fit perfectly. Cassie was sure what she was experiencing was Chaos. It had to be The Voice, or, well, The Voice had to be 'there', didn't it? But Annabeth's answers left no room for argument.

"Okay… So then one last question… Where is it?"

Annabeth gave her the slightest of looks. "It's _nothing_ " She said, even more drawn out than the last time. "I don't think you understand what that is..."

"So it's nowhere" Annabeth looked to the side but gave a single slow nod, which made Cassie think that there was more to the answer than just a nod, and that Annabeth just didn't think was worth explaining. "Okay," She tried to sound satisfied, like Annabeth had helped, "That's exactly what I was wondering about. Thanks!"

Annabeth finally gave her a slightly quizzical look, "Anytime… But why do you ask?"

Cassie was momentarily caught at how to respond. Mentioning she heard it in a dream would probably be a big red flag. Put her on some demigod watch list or something. "I heard his name" ("It's not a 'him'" Annabeth mumbled) "and had never heard of him before. I was just curious. Thanks again! I appreciate it!"

Cassie kept her voice as light and nonchalant as possible, and ended the conversation before Annabeth could probe anymore.

But apparently Cassie's concern that Annabeth would be suspicious was for nothing. Annabeth just shrugged, told her it was no problem, and went back inside her cabin to brood some more.

As Cassie walked away, she was momentarily relieved, but her mood quickly returned to one of irritation. So it wasn't Chaos talking to her? Well that didn't help at all. Cassie rolled her eyes. Back to worrying about Luke again, she supposed.

The scene from earlier that morning replayed in her head, and she was reminded of how horribly that had gone… Nevermind. Enough of that for one day.

* * *

It was a relatively normal week at camp, despite the heightened tensions. Then on Monday morning, Percy didn't show up for breakfast. It normally wouldn't have been a big deal, or even noticed probably, since breakfasts weren't as big of an occasion as lunches and dinners, so people came and went as they pleased, but with everyone on edge because of the upcoming (possible) war between the gods, people were assuming the worst. He ran away, the gods killed him in his sleep, he got a quest….

Actually, Cassie didn't hear anyone speculating the last one. No way would Chiron be desperate enough to grant that noob a quest! (Clarisse's words)

No, they majority decided, he probably ran away.

Cassie was playing volleyball with some other campers against the satyrs not long after when they finally saw Percy show his face. Percy, understandably, looked slightly worried, but the satyr he was following to the big house, Grover of course, looked close to fainting.

Percy didn't look much better when he left the Big House. Unsurprisingly, neither did Grover. Annabeth, now traveling with the two, looked like she was going to shout with joy any second, which is how everyone was able to guess what had happened.

"Looks like Annabeth finally got her quest" Michael, who was serving (and who was also surprisingly good at volleyball despite his height), said with a tone Cassie couldn't decipher. Happy for her? Thought they were doomed? She couldn't tell.

Most campers Cassie talked to seemed to fall in the latter category. Everyone trusted in Annabeth's skills and knowledge. But of course, she wasn't the one they were relying on to save the world; it was the new kid who just days before hadn't known the Greek gods even existed. And Grover too. Everyone liked Grover as a satyr. But they also knew he was pretty… useless.

That was initially how the fighting started. The ones who had hope versus the ones who were realists; The ones wanting to wait out the quest versus the ones wanting to prepare for war. Somehow, and Cassie didn't exactly follow 'how', but somehow, that quickly turned to a fight over 'which god is in the right'.

The Athena cabin was blaming Poseidon for being greedy and power hungry. Ares, Apollo, and Aphrodite were giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Most of the other cabins were waiting it out since there wasn't any hard evidence. Or they were just apathetic and didn't care who was right, so long as it didn't end in the apocalypse.

Hermes' cabin left a lovely situation for Cassie to be in. It was almost a complete split on who campers supported. And Luke backed both sides. Not 'backed' as in 'defended', but more 'provoked'. "Why should Zeus get all the power anyways, he did this-and this-and this" or "Poseidon has always been jealous, remember when he _", or "He (referring to either god) is probably trying to start a war. It makes sense, you know, because (convincing argument)" and such.

It was because one of these speeches that Cassie dared to talk to Luke about 'the light side' again.

"Hey Luke," She started casually after a training session, as he was cleaning up the last of the straw dummies and everyone else was on their way back to the cabins. "How long have the gods been around?"

He didn't look her way as he answered with a shrug, "Just about forever, I think. Not too sure."

"And they've been running the earth ever since? Protecting us and controlling the-"

"Protecting us?" Luke turned his head, his face surprisingly blank, "Cassie," He said as if in pity, "we just finished a swords class so you can defend yourself from monsters. Demigods fight to protect themselves, don't expect anything from the gods," The end came out with more disdain than he probably intended.

She was shocked. Cassie knew Luke's true opinions and loyalties, but that was borderline blasphemous. No, no, that was definitional blasphemy. "The gods provide us with the things we need to live!" She defended.

He shook his head. He had had a long week. He had just snuck a Hellhound into camp, Percy turned out to be Poseidon's kid, one of his spies was giving him problems, the camp was about to fall into a civil war, and not to mention the gods themselves were about to start their own apocalyptic fight. He was tired, he was stressed, and some naïve little camper was the last thing he needed.

He shook his head and almost downright glared at Cassie. "The gods may control their domain, but if you think, say, wine, is going to cease to exist if Dionysus gets banished to a summer camp and no longer has control of it, you need to think again. Pansies still grow when Persephone is gone and Demeter refuses to work."

Luke's shoulders relaxed when he noticed how still Cassie ha gone, and he softened his expression, "Cassie, I know they say we rely on the gods for everything, but you've gotten through life this far without them. Don't expect their help with the rest of it."

"Even if you don't think they deserve it, they're still powerful." Cassie tried to warn, without chiding him too much over his flippancy. "They can still zap you into dust if they decide you're being to rude"

"Powerful… Cassie, the gods draw their power from us. No humans, no power."

What? Who did this guy think he was?

Luke saw her brows come slightly together and explained. "The gods need us to survive… Have you heard of 'fading'?"

She had, actually. Sort of. She remembered reading of Pan in the Labyrinth. Something about nature not existing anymore, so he couldn't survive. But, nature did exist, Cassie thought. There were many untouched places still, and she knew many humans still cared for the earth… Did he _actually_ need to fade? Luke took her silent musing to mean she hadn't heard of the term before. He explained, "If humanity stops believing in a god or goddess, they fade. They cease to exist."

And like a switch, Cassie was at full attention. Cease to exist. Like the nothingness.

"The thing they had dominion over doesn't go away. It doesn't stop working. The same if a god is killed for a time. Or banished."

Cassie was paying him minimal attention now though. The void! She was talking to a god that had faded, that had to be it! And it needed her to be able to come back into the world!

"Can the gods come back after they've faded?" She quickly interrupted.

Luke canted his head ever so slightly, "No" He shook his head, that wasn't his point, and he tried to steer her back on track to his topic, "Cassie just listen to me when I tell you that the gods aren't going to help you. You need to do this on your own."

Cassie paid no attention to Luke's statement about personal responsibility. His 'no' had been so uncommitted, so indifferent. He must not really know the answer. Just because it hadn't happened before, didn't mean it couldn't happen.

"The nothingness," She continued, and because she had been thinking about it recently she asked, "Is that Tartarus?"

With a sigh from knowing that Cassie was a lost cause at the moment, Luke locked the door to the training shed and wiped his hands on his shorts. "Could be" He finally said.

"But the gods still exist when they're in Tartarus, right?" They had to, she figured, if one was speaking to her.

But Luke was tired, and he was uninterested in this line of questioning. "Tartarus is nothing. They can't exist there." He finished. "But, if you really want to know about it, I'm not the one to ask."

Cassie didn't like that answer. It didn't fit her theory. The voice! What was he the god of!? Cassie was beyond thrilled. There must be a faded god out there who needed her to free him or something. He may or may not be in Tartarus, she would have to ask about that, but he must have been the one who brought her to her current universe. She didn't know why he would have brought her, instead of just contacting another demigod directly, but it didn't bother her much at the moment. There were more pressing questions. How was she going to find out whom it was that was contacting her? His name would have been mostly forgotten, she figured, since he had faded, but despite that, if she knew he was real and believed in him, would that be enough to help bring him back?

But then a thought struck her, and she froze in her tracks. A shiver went down her spine and the hair on the back of her neck prickled.

A god. In Tartarus. Was contacting her in her dreams, asking her to free him. To bring him back.

Just like Kronos. Just like with Luke…

* * *

So, I mean, I've finished writing this story, if that helps at all. Just needs editing. A lot of editing… It will be uploaded... Someday...


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